William Collum promoted to Elite Group, Blom leaves it

(c) UEFA.com

Scottish referee William Collum has been promoted to UEFA Elite Group of Refereeing.
After having refereed five UEFA Champions League encounters and fourteen UEFA Europa League matches, he will join the pool of 24 match officials who savour the highest position possible at UEFA refereeing. The number of 24 officials indicates that this is not the only movement in the roster, as there have been 22 referees in ELITE Group so far. Along with Craig Thomson also being on the ELITE list, Scotland now poses two officials there, which had never been the case before.

Having already refereed the final of 2008 UEFA U19 EURO and two matches at 2011 FIFA U20 World Cup, Collum emphasized that it was "obviously a great news for [him], but [especially] for Scottish refereeing. Furthermore, he highlighted the influence of UEFA Referee Committee member Hugh Dallas, consequently, he concluded: "I would like to thank the Scottish FA and [Head of Referee Development] John Fleming for their support – not just to myself but the whole refereeing fraternity - and also to Hugh Dallas, who remains a huge supporter and champion for Scottish refereeing in his position at UEFA."

Collum works as teacher for Religious Education in the north of Scotland.

source: Scottish FA

At the same time, Kevin Blom from the Netherlands has been relegated to First Group.
Two referees have been relegated from Elite Development to First Group: Alan Kelly from Ireland and Robert Schörgenhofer from Austria. István Vad of Hungary has been promoted to Elite Development. Later more.