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©2026 United World Wrestling
General information
UWW licenses are mandatory for all Referees who wish to take part in competitions published on the UWW Calendar. Coaches’ licenses are required for competitions for which registrations are made via Athena.
The licence is purchased by the National Federations via our Athena platform throughout the year. It is valid until 31 December of the year of purchase. The license insures Referees and Coaches at UWW competitions registered on the UWW calendar under the conditions described below and enables our Federations to register them for competitions via Athena.
Insurance conditions
In the event of an accident or illness while travelling to a competition abroad listed on the UWW Calendar, Licensees are insured by IMSSA Insurance, which covers the full medical expenses incurred at the competition venue, provided that the illness or accident first occurred during the competition.
Upon returning to the country of residence and for the continuation of treatment, IMSSA will intervene on a subsidiary basis to the Licensee’s local insurance, meaning that IMSSA will cover any eligible costs not covered by the Licensee’s local insurance.
Also, when a Licensee participates in a UWW competition in his/her country of residence, IMSSA does not cover any expenses related to illness/sickness, but only accident expenses and on a subsidiary basis.
It is therefore important that all Licensees take out insurance in their country of residence.
For the full details of the risk insured by IMSSA and the procedure to follow, see details under Governance / License / Insurance.
Athena
Licenses are purchased by our Federations prior to competitions. They are not sold on site, nor to individuals, and exclusively via our Athena platform
https://athena.unitedworldwrestling.org
Each Federation has access to Athena and can log into its account using its username (which is the Federation’s official UWW email address) and password. If the Federation loses its password, it can click on “Password lost?” and follow the procedure that will be sent instantly to its official UWW email address.
For the purchase of a new License there are two tasks to be completed on Athena : upload a valid passport copy (no ID card is accepted) and a photo. UWW will validate the documents within a few days, and you'll be able to purchase the license afterwards. For the renewal of a license, no further documents are required, and the Federation can directly buy the license of the chosen year. Please note that
Payment can be made
Upon receipt of the payment, the license will be validated until 31st December of the year. Referees and Coach licenses purchased from 1st November are valid until 31 December of the following year.
Price, Age, Categories & Validity
All information concerning UWW Referee Courses and Categories can be found here
Personal license card
Coaches do not receive a personal License card at the moment.
The card of each new Referee is sent to his Federation a few weeks after the purchase. When the Federation renews his license the following year, the validity and category will be immediately visible with the QR code. The license card can be kept during an entire sport's career, as it is reusable.
Each Referee has to present his card at the UWW competition, and the list of Referee (printable via Athena by the Federation) also contains a QR code, and is accepted as valid proof for license.