The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has reduced the number of referees to officiate in the Premier League by 50 per cent to ensure high quality of officiating.

Currently, 60 middlemen and their assistants officiate in the GT premiership but the GFA, in consultation with the Referees Appointments Committee, has decided to slash the number to either 30 or 40 before the season kick-starts.

The idea, according to Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, President of the FA, is to give the selected ones more matches to handle in conformity with FIFA standards.

FIFA expects referees to handle at least 10 matches in a season, but the highest number of matches referees officiate in Ghana is four.

He said aside weeding out the questionable characters, the huge number of referees does not allow for more matches which enhance competence and efficiency.

The President said the English premiership which plays about 320 matches per season has just 22 referees and questioned the logic in having 60 referees in 240 matches.

FIFA, in line with its new policy of effectively monitoring the referees, has reduced the number in each country.

The number of FIFA referees in Ghana has been slashed from seven to five to correlate its ranking in the world.

Besides competence, the number of FIFA referees a country can now have will largely depend on its ranking in the world.