The RefMic made a historic debut at the 2025 IHF Women’s World Championship in Trier, marking another important step in the use of technology to improve transparency in handball officiating. 

The system allows referees to explain their decisions to everyone in the arena and to TV audiences after a Video Replay (VR) check, giving insight into what they saw and how they interpreted the situation.

The first in-game use of the system came during the opening match in Trier between Spain and Paraguay, after 50 minutes, when referees Ahmad Gheisarian and Amir Gheisarian from the Islamic Republic of Iran, explained their decision of awarding a two-minute suspension to Spain left wing Jennifer Gutierrez.

The second in‑game use came during the preliminary round duel between Montenegro and the Faroe Islands in Group D, when Egyptian referee Heidy Elsaied, whistling together with her sister Yasmina, used the RefMic to explain a two‑minute suspension for Montenegrin player Ivana Godec, in the second half of the match.

After consulting the VR system, the referee pair confirmed that Godec’s defensive action met the criteria for a direct punishment. With the RefMic activated, Elsaied briefly described the violation, their observations, the reasoning behind the sanction and how the match should be restarted, directly addressing spectators and viewers. 

 

 

 

 

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For the Playing Rules and Referees Commission (PRC) of the IHF, this was an important moment: for the first time at a World Championship, fans could immediately hear from the referees themselves what violation they had assessed and why the decision was taken. 

“With the RefMic, our rules do not suddenly become simple, because if we tried to make them much easier, we would end up changing the game completely. At the moment, that is not possible. When you close one door in the rule book, you often open several others at the same time,” said the PRC Chairman Per Morten Sødal.

“What we can do, however, is let the referees explain why they decide as they do, based on the same pictures that every TV viewer can see. That makes the process more transparent and, over time, we will able to inform the handball fans more and more about the interpretations of the rules ,” added Sødal.

By knowing that the explanations for the decisions are heard in real time, the referees are encouraged to structure their reasoning clearly. This benefits not only top‑level matches, but also the wider refereeing community, as younger officials can watch these games and better understand how experienced colleagues analyse difficult incidents.

The introduction of the RefMic in Trier is yet another positive step in a broader, long‑term process of modernising officiating. Alongside VR and innovations such as the RefCam, which will be used during the final weekend of the competition in Rotterdam, it reflects the IHF’s commitment to using technology in a way that respects the spirit of the game while giving spectators and TV viewers more insight into decisive moments.