Collina: Protect the players and the image of the game!

UEFA chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina has highlighted the message given by UEFA to Europe's top referees as they enter a new club and national-team season. Protect the players – protect the image of the game. This is the message being given by UEFA to Europe's international referees as they move into another hectic season of club and national-team duty.

UEFA's chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina spelt out the message at UEFA's European football kick-off events in Monaco. He also underlined the overall satisfaction with the ongoing experiment with two additional assistant referees, and highlighted the December date with destiny for Europe's elite match officials as they strive to be appointed for next summer's UEFA EURO 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Protecting the players, Collina said, meant taking action against serious foul play and reckless tackles. "We do not want to see broken legs," the Italian emphasised. "We have to avoid the potential for a player to see his health endangered by someone else. We do not need doctors on the pitch. We have to convince players not to put the safety of an opponent in danger. Respecting opponents and protecting players is one of our main objectives. "The other main aim is to protect football's image," Collina added. "We don't want to see referees mobbed by players. We are experiencing situations where players run from a long distance to put pressure on and crowd the referee. We are recommending referees not to accept this kind of behaviour." The message has been reiterated to the referees at this week's UEFA summer gathering in Nyon. Collina also spoke of the punishment that faces players who deliberately provoke a yellow card to receive a suspension. "Players will receive a two-match ban," he stressed. "This is clear – you cannot decide when you want to be suspended."

The experiment with additional assistant referees continues this season in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and the two additional assistants will also be deployed at UEFA EURO 2012. "Very positive feedback has been received from the referees," Collina said. "They feel they have a better control of what is happening on the pitch, and that the presence of the additional assistants is serving as a deterrent against holding or pulling offences in the penalty area from set pieces." As with any experiment, improvements are being sought constantly – the positioning of the additional assistants has been changed, and special efforts are being made to make the public more aware of the role of these assistants.

Moreover, Collina explained the UEFA refereeing set-up. The UEFA Referees Committee, he said, comprises 16 members appointed by the UEFA Executive Committee. Chairman Ángel María Villar Llona and deputy chairman Şenes Erzik are both members of the UEFA Executive Committee and all the other members are former referees. In February 2010, the UEFA Executive Committee appointed Collina as UEFA chief refereeing officer, and Marc Bata (France) and Hugh Dallas (Scotland) as refereeing officers with the task of coordinating UEFA Referees Committee activities, defining UEFA's refereeing technical strategies, and preparing and appointing referees for UEFA competitions.

Referee preparation, meanwhile, involves three main areas – physical, technical, and development and future. Referees receive training programmes, nutrition instructions and advice, and their fitness levels are subject to remote monitoring. Fitness tests throughout the season and medical examinations complete the thorough catalogue of activities – including a visual ability test to ensure that referees can 'fix a vision', take an 'instant photograph' of an incident, focus on close or moving objects and react to movements around them. The referees are also regularly followed by UEFA Referees Committee members and observers for assessment and coaching reasons. Courses are held for different referee levels, and development and future activities include the talents and mentors scheme, as well as training at UEFA's Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE) within the UEFA Centre of Football Excellence in Nyon.

The refereeing teams for UEFA EURO 2012 will be chosen in December. "Referees from the UEFA elite category will be monitored until then, the list of the 12 selected quintets of match officials will be finalised in December, and the selected match officials will then be monitored from February until May 2012," said Collina. "The selected quintets will work together." A EURO preparation workshop will be held in Warsaw next May, and the assistant referees are set to receive specialist coaching.

Source: UEFA

FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifiers – CONCACAF

2 September 2011

Canada – Santa Lucia
Referee: Jair Marrufo (USA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Charles Morgante (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Wienckowski (USA)
Fourth Official: Terry Vaughn (USA)

Trinidad & Tobago – Bermudas
Referee: Jafeth Perea (PAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Rey Mendoza (PAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Baines (PAN)
Fourth Official: Roberto Moreno (PAN)


St. Kitts & Nevis – Puerto Rico

Referee: Ricardo Arellano (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Alejandro Ayala (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Calderon (MEX)
Fourth Official: Paul Delgadillo (MEX)

El Salvador – Dominican Republic

Referee: Luis Rodriguez (PAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Williamson (PAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Gabriel Victoria (PAN)
Fourth Official: Walter Lopez (GUA)

Suriname – Cayman Islands

Referee: Adrian Skeete (BRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Moses (BRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Clifton Garnes (BRB)
Fourth Official: Trevor Taylor (BRB)

Guyana – Barbados
Referee: Canaan St. Catherine (LCA)
Assistant Referee 1: Dwayne Ebanks (CAY)
Assistant Referee 2: Swason Owen (CAY)
Fourth Official: Leon Clarke (LCA)

Dominica – Nicaragua
Referee: Valdin Legister (JAM)
Assistant Referee 1: Kedlee Powell (JAM)
Assistant Referee 2: Lloyd Reader (JAM)
Fourth Official: Kevin Morrison (JAM)

Granada – Belize
Referee: David Rubalcaba (CUB)
Assistant Referee 1: Hiran Perez (CUB)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Rodriguez (CUB)
Fourth Official: Osiel Nunez (CUB)

Guatemala – St. Vincent & Grenadines

Referee: Erick Andino (HON)
Assistant Referee 1: Osvaldo Luna (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Marvin Ramirez (CRC)
Fourth Official: Armando Castro (HON)

Haiti – US Virgin Islands

Referee: Hugo Cruz Alvarado (CRC)
Assistant Referee 1: Warner Castro (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Fernandez (CRC)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Cerdas Sanchez (CRC)

Antigua & Barbuda – Curacao

Referee: Javier Santos (PUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dion Neil (TRI)
Assistant Referee 2: Ainsley Rochard (TRI)
Fourth Official: Raymond Bogle (JAM)

FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifiers – AFC

2 September 2011

Japan – Korea DPR
Referee: Ali Al-Badwawi (UAE, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Saleh Al Marzouqi (UAE)
Assistant Referee 2: Saeed Alhouti (UAE)
Fourth Official: Abdulla Mohamed (UAE)

Tajikistan – Uzbekistan
Referee: Tan Hai (CHN)
Assistant Referee 1: Mu Yuxin (CHN)
Assistant Referee 2: Su Jige (CHN)
Fourth Official: Zhao Liang (CHN)

Iraq – Jordan

Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (BHR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ebrahim Saleh (BHR)
Assistant Referee 2: Nawaf Moosa (BHR)
Fourth Official: Ali Abdulnabi (BHR)

Oman – Saudi Arabia

Referee: Abdulrahman Abdou (QAT)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohammad Dharman (QAT)
Assistant Referee 2: Hassan Althawadi (QAT)
Fourth Official: Khamis Al Marri (QAT)

UAE – Kuwait

Referee: Muhsen Basma (SYR)
Assistant Referee 1: Tammam Hamdoun (SYR)
Assistant Referee 2: Mohammed Al Nahlawi (SYR)
Fourth Official: Masoud Tufaylieh (SYR)

China – Singapore

Referee: Andre El Haddad (LIB)
Assistant Referee 1: Ziad El Mhajer (LIB)
Assistant Referee 2: Hadi El Kassar (LIB)
Fourth Official: Ali Sabbagh (LIB)

Korea – Lebanon

Referee: Abdul Bashir (SIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Gek Pheng (SIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Mun Tang (SIN)
Fourth Official: Fan Qi (CHN)

Australia – Thailand
Referee: Abdullah Balideh (QAT)
Assistant Referee 1: Waleed Al Mannai (QAT)
Assistant Referee 2: Ramzan Saeed Al-Naemi (QAT)
Fourth Official: Banjar Al Dosari (QAT)

Bahrain – Qatar

Referee: Mohamed Zarouni (UAE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohammad Jassim (UAE)
Assistant Referee 2: Omar Alhumoudi (UAE)
Fourth Official: Hamad Hashmi (UAE)

Iran – Indonesia

Referee: Masaaki Toma (JPN)
Assistant Referee 1: Akane Yagi (JPN)
Assistant Referee 2: Hideo Nishio (JPN)
Fourth Official: Chaiya Mahapab (THA)

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 5

30 August 2011
Nacional – Aurora

Referee: Dario Ubriaco (URU, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcelo Costa (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Changala (URU)
Fourth Official: Ulisses Merelles (PAR)

Arsenal – Estudiantes

Referee: Gabriel Favale (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Diego Bonfa (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Gustavo Rossi (ARG)
Fourth Official: Nestor Pitana (ARG)

31 August 2011
CA Lanus – Godoy Cruz

Referee: Juan Pompei (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Hernan Maidana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ariel Bustos (ARG)
Fourth Official: Federico Beligoy (ARG)

1 September 2011
Argentinos Juniors – Velez Sarsfield
Referee: Diego Abal (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Bellati (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ernesto Uziga (ARG)
Fourth Official: Sergio Pezzotta (ARG)

Deportivo Anzoategui – Universitario
Referee: Alfredo Intriago (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Christian Lescano (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Byron Romero (ECU)
Fourth Official: Giovanni Perluzzo (VEN)

Damkova stands for Czech FA chair

Victory in September’s vote for the Czech FA chair would make Dagmar Damkova the first woman in Europe to hold such a lofty post.
Dagmar Damkova is a genuine pioneer. In 2003, she became the first female official to referee a Czech men’s top-flight soccer league game. This July, she became the first woman appointed to the referees commission of European football’s governing body UEFA. Now the 36-year-old is aiming higher still, standing for the position of chair of the Czech football association (FA). If she wins, she will be the first woman in Europe to hold such a powerful post.

Damkova has needed considerable fortitude to get to where she is today. In fact, the former English teacher says in her early days in men’s soccer she found the verbal abuse from both players and fans almost impossible to bear. She would occasionally break down in tears and considered quitting. “At the beginning it was very hard. I was the only woman, and they looked at me like, ‘what do you think you’re doing here? You should be in the kitchen,’” the ground-breaking ref told Czech Position. Damkova’s only choice was to persevere and prove that she was just as capable as her male colleagues. “I began to hear people saying ‘we should have all female refs!’” she says. “The players began to behave differently — that’s what changed over the years.”

However, it has not been all plain sailing, with one low point coming in the second half of the 2006–2007 season when, for apparently political reasons, she was struck off the Czech FA’s list of top flight refs. Nevertheless, Damkováas reputation continued to grow abroad and she was put in charge of such prestigious matches as the women’s final at the Beijing Olympics (“the greatest moment of my career”) and this year’s women’s UEFA Champions League final.
Damkova’s international career reached a new peak in July, when she became the first woman — and the first Czech — ever appointed to UEFA’s 15-member referees commission. The body’s first meeting is taking place in the Swiss town of Nyon this Monday, and she says it is not entirely clear what her responsibilities will be, though the signs are she will oversee women’s refereeing in Europe and all refereeing in the Czech league. She will continue to live in her hometown Plzen Winning the prestigious post means Damkova has had to hang up her boots. After the final game of her career in early August, between Mlada Boleslav and Slovacko, both teams lined up to kiss her for good luck (one cheeky player asked her to swap jerseys). “No other ref will ever have such a send-off,” she says.
However, no sooner had Damkova been awarded the UEFA position than she announced her boldest ambition yet: to stand for chair of the Czech FA, following the shock resignation in June of Ivan Hasek, who was only two years into a four-year term. “I want to help improve the reputation of Czech football abroad. Because the name of Czech football is very, very bad,” says Damkováa adding that frequent changes at the head of the country’s FA are regarded as “crazy” by officials at FIFA, which oversees world soccer, and UEFA. “It’s very important to have an FA president who is well-known, and who has contacts at UEFA and FIFA,” she says, outlining her qualifications for the post. “If you do not have contacts, you are a loser.”

Nevertheless, eyebrows have been raised by Damkova’s candidature. There have been suggestions that if elected, the popular referee could in fact serve as a puppet in the hands of her boyfriend Roman Berbr, the powerful head of the Plzeň branch of the FA.
Damkova bristles at this idea. “We are partners, and we live together. But I am an individual, and I am responsible for myself,” she says. “It is the same with refereeing. At the beginning, of course he helped me. But then I achieved everything by myself, thanks to my own qualities and skills.”

Delegates at a Czech FA extraordinary general meeting on September 16 will choose between Damkova, the organization’s former deputy chairman, Jindrich Rajchl (who is also reported to be close to Berbr) and Miroslav Pelta, the owner of Jablonec FC. Damkova has also put her name in the ring for the position of deputy chair, leading Pelta to imply that his opponents may be working in tandem with a view to dividing the spoils. Meanwhile, Damkova says it is not yet clear whether she would be able to hold a top Czech FA post and retain her place on the UEFA commission and that she will discuss the matter in Nyon.


In any case, Damkova says she still has plans beyond the Czech Republic. “I’ve had some contact with FIFA and have had a few meetings with them. We’ll see what happens in the future – maybe I could get something on the executive committee,” she says. “Both [FIFA president Sepp] Blatter and [UEFA president Michel] Platini want women to be on the committees. Now it is just the green light for women, so I feel like I have got a good chance.”

Source: Czech Position

Collina: Red card for dissent

Players who mob referees to protest against decisions could face instant red cards in the future, according to UEFA's Chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina. He revealed there would be tougher action than ever when players surrounded officials. The Italian said: "We don't want to see referees mobbed by players, where players run from long distances to crowd the ref. This could even be punished by a red card. Certainly one of the things we need to improve is stopping this kind of behaviour. It's not nice to see.''

Collina said that referees in the two European club competitions were being aided by the extra assistant referees standing behind each dead-ball line, and that serious foul play would not be tolerated. He added: "Referees have been instructed to protect the players. We don't need doctors on the pitch. We do not want to be in a situation where we have broken legs. Better to convince the players to stop before. "Look what happened to Eduardo a few years ago. It was shocking and was not football. If there is a serious risk to endanger the safety of an opponent, this has to be removed before there is actual damage.''

Collina also revealed that former English assistant referee Philip Sharp will conduct a workshop in Poland before Euro 2012 to provide special training for the 12 quintets of officials who will take charge at the tournament.

Kuipers: Pride and confidence

Pride in his achievements and confidence in his ability are major sensations for Bjorn Kuipers as the Dutch referee looks ahead to taking charge of Friday's UEFA Super Cup between UEFA Champions League holders FC Barcelona and UEFA Europa League winners FC Porto at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. Kuipers will be accompanied on his assignment by a team of compatriots – assistant referees Erwin Zeinstra and Berry Simons, fourth official Bas Nijhuis and additional assistant referees Richard Liesveld and Danny Makkelie.
"It's a wonderful surprise – when the appointment for the Super Cup match came, I was very happy," Kuipers told UEFA.com. "When I'm lining up with the teams before Friday's game, I will be proud and thinking how fantastic it is to be here." The 38-year-old supermarket owner from Oldenzaal in the eastern Netherlands joined the international list in 2006 and has already compiled some impressive achievements. If his first steps up the international ladder in his first year culminated in him refereeing the final of the 2006 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, he repeated the feat at the U21 Championship in 2009. More recently he officiated at one play-off match, two group stage games and a round of 16 fixture in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League, and also handled three UEFA Europa League matches last season, including the semi-final first leg between Porto and Villarreal CF. Yet for Kuipers, whose club record is no less eye-catching, his appointment for Friday's showpiece event in Monaco represents a new zenith. It also rewards his efforts since taking the plunge as a match official aged 16 after, like many referees, he had started out as a footballer. "My father was a referee," he said, "and when I was on the pitch as a player, I was the guy who always knew better than the referee! So my father said that if I knew everything so well, maybe I should try being a referee. And that's what I did. "I never thought about reaching this level because it was a hobby then – but everything I want to do, I like to aim to reach the top," added Kuipers, who is married with two young children – a two-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. "I've never really had a role model, although I obviously appreciate various referees and their different styles. I don't think it's good to copy anyone."
Concentration is a vital component of a referee's armoury, and Kuipers insists on the absolute need to remain completely focused on the job from the opening whistle to the final instant. "It's obviously important to make the correct first decision in a match to gain confidence," he explained, "but it's not only the first minute in a match that is important – it's the entire match. As a referee at this level, you can have a very good match as a referee but you can then make a mistake in the last minute – so you have to concentrate throughout the game." While Friday is a big moment in the lives of Kuipers and his colleagues, the nature of their profession means they will approach the occasion with customary thoroughness. "Our preparation will be the same as for other matches, as professionals we will not treat it any differently." Those preparations will include a "team" meeting before the trip to the stadium. "Then, when we are in the dressing rooms, we will be relaxed, there will be a good atmosphere – and we will be strong for each other when we go out on to the field."

Source: UEFA

UEFA Europa League – Play Offs (Second Leg)

25 August 2011

Sochaux – Metalist
Referee: Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez (ESP, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Diaz Perez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Jon Nunez Fernandez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Javier Turienzo Alvarez (ESP)

Sparta Prague – Vaslui
Referee: Thomas Einwaller (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Norbert Schwab (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Walter Altmann (AUT)
Fourth Official: Manfred Krassnitzer (AUT)

Dynamo Kyiv – Litex
Referee: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Mullarkey (ENF)
Assistant Referee 2: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Fourth Official: John Moss (ENG)

Sion – Celtic
Referee: David Fernandez Borbalan (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Raul Cabanero Martinez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Jorge Canelo Prieto (ESP)
Fourth Official: Miguel Perez Lasa (ESP)

Panathinaikos – Maccabi
Referee: Antonio Damato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Fourth Official: Danilo Giannoccaro (ITA)

Tottenham – Hearts
Referee: Anastassios Kakos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Christos Akrivos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Dimitrios Gagas (GRE)
Fourth Official: Ilias Spathas (GRE)

Schalke – Helsinki
Referee: Leontios Trattou (CYP)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Soteriou (CYP)
Assistant Referee 2: Charalambos Charalambous (CYP)
Fourth Official: Marios Tsaggaris (CYP)

Spartak Moscow – Legia
Referee: Alon Yefet (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Shabtai Nahmias (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Yehoshua Mozes (ISR)
Fourth Official: Ziv Adler (ISR)

Hapoel – Ekranas 
Referee: Artyom Kuchin (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 1: Yevgeniy Belskiy (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 2: Serik Zhappasbayev (KAZ)
Fourth Official: Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ)

Spartak Trnava – Lokomotiv

Referee: Luca Banti (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Riccardo Di Fiore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Giorgio Niccolai (ITA)
Fourth Official: Sebastiano Peruzzo (ITA)

FC Brugge – Zestafoni

Referee: Tony Asumaa (FIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Matti Heikinen (FIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Mikko Alakare (FIN)
Fourth Official: Dennis Antamo (FIN)

Dinamo – Vorksla

Referee: Cyril Zimmermann (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Beat Hidber (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Bruno Zurbrugg (SUI)
Fourth Official: Alain Bieri (SUI)

Alkmaar – Aalesund

Referee: Alan Kelly (IRL)
Assistant Referee 1: Damien MacGraith (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Marc Douglas (IRL)
Fourth Official: Padraig Sutton (IRL)

Salzburg – Omonia
Referee: Gediminas Mazeika (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytautas Simkus (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Saulius Dirda (LTU)
Fourth Official: Sergejus Slyva (LTU)

Gaz Metan – Austria Vienna

Referee: Huseyin Gocek (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Serkan Ok (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Orkun Aktas (TUR)
Fourth Official: Mete Kalkavan (TUR)


CSKA Sofia – Steaua
Referee: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Angelo Boonman (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Rob Van de Ven (NED)
Fourth Official: Ed Janssen (NED)


Stoke – Thun
Referee: Marcin Borski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Rafal Rostkowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Fourth Official: Dawid Piasecki (POL)

Alania – Besiktas

Referee: Alexandru Tudor (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Cristian Nica (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Aurel Onita (ROU)
Fourth Official: Radu Petrescu (ROU)

Anderlecht – Bursaspor

Referee: Manuel De Sousa (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Jose Cardinal (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Ramalho (POR)
Fourth Official: Cosme Machado (POR)

Karpaty – PAOK
Referee: Fredy Fautrel (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Fredji Harchay (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Cyril Gringoire (FRA)
Fourth Official: Philippe Malige (FRA)

Sporting – Nordsjaelland
Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Sovre (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Ionel Popa (ROU)
Fourth Official: Istvan Kovacs (ROU)

Rapid – Slask
Referee: Martin Hansson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Joakim Flink (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Peter Vesterholm (SWE)
Fourth Official: Johan Hamlin (SWE)

Helsingborg – Standard
Referee: Said Ennjimi (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Frederic Cano (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Laurent Stien (FRA)
Fourth Official: Herve Piccirillo (FRA)

Dnipro – Fulham

Referee: Tom Harald Hagen (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Frank Andas (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Sven Midthjell (NOR)
Fourth Official: Espen Berntsen (NOR)

Sevilla – Hannover

Referee: Serge Gumienny (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Simons (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Frank Bleyen (BEL)
Fourth Official: Alexandre Boucaut (BEL)

Rennes – Red Star
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Pickel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Holger Henschel (GER)
Fourth Official: Peter Sippel (GER)

Partizan – Shamrock
Referee: Jan Valasek (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomas Mokos (SVK)

Assistant Referee 2: Peter Chladek (SVK)
Fourth Official: Kamil Horvath (SVK)

Larnaca – Rosenborg

Referee: Euan Norris (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Gordon Middleton (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: James Bee (SCO)
Fourth Official: Allan Crawford (SCO)

Roma – Slovan

Referee: Halis Ozkahya (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Cem Satman (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Alek Tascioglu (TUR)
Fourth Official: Koray Gencerler (TUR)

PSG – Differdange

Referee: Kristinn Jakobsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 1: Sigurdur Thorleifsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 2: Gunnar Gunnarsson (ISL)
Fourth Official: Magnus Thorisson (ISL)

Rangers – Maribor

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD)
Assistant Referee 1: Marjan Kirovski (MKD)
Assistant Referee 2: Ljubomir Krstevski (MKD)
Fourth Official: Dimitar Meckarovski (MKD)

Birmingham – Nacional
Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Aleksei Lebedev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Viacheslav Semenov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Viacheslav Kharlamov (RUS)

Tbilisi – AEK
Referee: Darko Ceferin (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrej Kokolj (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Bojan Ul (SVN)
Fourth Official: Dejan Balazic (SVN)

Rabotnicki – Lazio

Referee: Menashe Masiah (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Nissan Davidy (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Oren Borneshtain (ISR)
Fourth Official: Moshe Buhbut (ISR)

PSV – Ried
Referee: Maksim Layushkin (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Oleg Tselovalnikov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Mikhail Erovenko (RUS)
Fourth Official: Timur Arslanbekov (RUS)

Vitoria – Atletico

Referee: Andre Marriner (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: David Richardson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Scott Ledger (ENG)
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor (ENG)

Young Boys – Braga
Referee: Ivan Bebek (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomislav Petrovic (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Miro Grgic (CRO)
Fourth Official: Domagoj Vuckov (CRO)

UEFA Super Cup 2011: Kuipers (NED)

UEFA has appointed the match officials for the 2011UEFA Super Cup tie between UEFA Champions League holders FC Barcelona and UEFA Europa League winners FC Porto at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.
Bjorn Kuipers, a 38-year-old official from Oldenzaal who has been an international referee since 2006, has taken charge of 43 UEFA matches in his career. Last season in the UEFA Champions League he handled one play-off match, two group stage games and a round of 16 fixture. Kuipers also oversaw three UEFA Europa League matches in 2010-2011, including the semi-final first leg between Porto and Villarreal CF. Previously he refereed the finals of the 2006 UEFA European U-17 Championship and the 2009 U-21 European Championship.
26 August 2011
FC Barcelona - FC Porto
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Erwin Zeinstra (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Berry Simons (NED)
Additional AR 1: Richard Liesveld (NED)
Additional AR 2: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Fourth Official: Bas Nijhuis (NED)

The drama of Carlos Torres

After surgery for a torn meniscus, doctors who attended the international referee from Paraguay found a more serious injury, so Carlos Torres will undergo another surgery and will miss the rest of the year. The drama of Carlos Torres Nunez (Paraguay) does not seem to finish. In May, he suffered meniscus tear in his right knee, so he underwent surgery almost immediately. His recovery for this type of intervention was about a month, so he thought would come on time to represent Paraguay in Copa America. Unfortunately, he did not pass the fitness tests and was replaced by his rival, Carlos Amarilla. Three months after that operation, Torres met with another problem. "It's something new from the standpoint that I'm aware, but it's also something old, caused by a worn cartillage, which gives me much pain. Training is practically impossible. It was discovered after the operation of the rupture of the meniscus, which may have resulted from the bad footing”, he explained. The referee also said it will only be solved with another surgery that will happen in the late fall or winter. Because of that, he is in danger of being removed from the FIFA List for next year.

Source: Revista Arbitros

CONCACAF Champions League – Group Stage (II)


23 August 2011
Real Espana – Colorado Rapids
Referee: Roberto Garcia (MEX, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Alejandro Ayala (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Calderon (MEX)
Fourth Official: Alfredo Penaloza (MEX)

Monterrey – Seattle Sounders
Referee: Elmar Rodas (GUA)
Assistant Referee 1: Cesar Ruano (GUA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marco Diaz (GUA)
Fourth Official: Oscar Reyna (GUA)

Comunicaciones – Herediano
Referee: Mark Geiger (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Eric Boria (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Wienckowski (USA)
Fourth Official: Jair Marrufo (USA)

24 August 2011
Toronto FC – FC Dallas
Referee: Javier Santos (PUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Antonio Lopez (PUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dion Neil (TRI)
Fourth Official: Neal Brizan (TRI)

Metapan – Santos Laguna
Referee: Raymond Bogle (JAM)
Assistant Referee 1: Ricardo Morgan (JAM)
Assistant Referee 2: Kedlee Powell (JAM)
Fourth Official: Valdin Legister (JAM)

25 August 2011
Tauro – Pumas UNAM
Referee: Mauricio Navarro (CAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Phillipe Briere (CAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Belleau (CAN)
Fourth Official: David Gantar (CAN)

LA Galaxy – Alajuelense
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Jose Camargo (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Morin (MEX)
Fourth Official: Mauricio Morales (MEX)

Morelia – Motagua
Referee: Elmer Bonilla (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: William Torres (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Zumba (SLV)
Fourth Official: Ruben Medrano (SLV)

UEFA Champions League – Play-offs (Second Leg)

23 August 2011
Genk – Maccabi Haifa
Referee: Howard Webb (ENG, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Darren Cann (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Michael Mullarkey (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Kevin Friend (ENG)
Fourth Official: Lee Mason (ENG)

Apoel – Wisla Krakow

Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Gabor Eros (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Robert Kispal (HUN)
Additional AR1: Mihaly Fabian (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Tamas Bognar (HUN)
Fourth Official: Sandor Szabo (HUN)

Malmo – Dinamo Zagreb

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Renato Faverani (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Luca Maggiani (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Mauro Bergonzi (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Fourth Official: Andrea Romeo (ITA)

Villareal – Odense
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Francis Andrews (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alasdair Ross (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Steven McLean (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Stephen O'Reilly (SCO)
Fourth Official: Iain Robertson Brines (SCO)

Zurich – Bayern 

Referee: Laurent Duhamel (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Michel Annonier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Christophe Capelli (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Wilfried Bien (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Nicolas Rainville (FRA)
Fourth Official: Lionel Jaffredo (FRA)


24 August 2011
Rubin – Lyon

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Peter Hermans (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Yves De Neve (BEL)
Additional AR 1: Sebastien Delferiere (BEL)
Additional AR 2: Christof Dierick (BEL)
Fourth Official: Luc Wouters

Plzen – Kobenhavn

Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Alonso Fernandez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Jesus Calvo Guadamuro (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Carlos Clos Gomez (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Fernando Teixeira Vitienes (ESP)
Fourth Official: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP)

Sturm – Bate Borisov

Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Stefan Wittberg (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Mathias Klasenius (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Daniel Stalhammar (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Tobias Mattsson (SWE)
Fourth Official: Martin Strombergsson (SWE)

Benfica – Twente

Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Thorsten Shiffner (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Borch (GER)
Additional AR 1: Babak Rafati (GER)
Additional AR 2: Tobias Welz (GER)
Fourth Official: Gunter Perl (GER)

Udinese – Arsenal

Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bertino Miranda (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Joao Santos (POR)
Additional AR 1: Artur Soares (POR)
Additional AR 2: Carlos Xistra (POR)
Fourth Official: Manuel Gomez (POR)

FIFA U-20 World Cup Final 2011: Geiger (USA)

At his very first FIFA tournament, Mark Geiger (USA) has been appointed to referee the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Brazil - Portugal. Geiger has been a member of the FIFA List of Referees since 2008, officiating in Major League Soccer, the CONCACAF Champions League and several international friendly matches. The 36-year-old American began officiating in 1988 and became a National Referee in 2003. Geiger’s international refereeing resume includes the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in which he officiated the final match between Mexico and Costa Rica.

20 August 2011

Final
Brazil – Portugal
Referee: Mark Geiger (USA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Hurd (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Joe Fletcher (CAN)
Fourth Official: Kim Dong Jin (KOR)

Match for Third Place
Mexico – France

Referee: Antonio Arias (PAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Caceres (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Milciades Saldivar (PAR)
Fourth Official: Djamel Haimoudi (ALG)

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 4

23 August 2011
Santa Fe – Cesar Vallejo

Referee: Juan Soto Arevalo (VEN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Rafael Yanez (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Elbis Gomez (VEN)
Fourth Official: Jose Buitrago (COL)

Botafogo – Atletico Mineiro

Referee: Wilson Seneme (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Altemir Hausmann (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Emerson Carvalho (BRA)
Fourth Official: Sandro Ricci (BRA)

24 August 2011

Paranaense – Flamengo 
Referee: Salvio Fagundes Filho (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Rocha (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Erich Bandeira (BRA)
Fourth Official: Pedro Vuaden (BRA)

Sao Pablo – Ceara
Referee: Henrique Marcelo de Lima (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Dibert Pedrosa (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Gutemberg Fonseca (BRA)

25 August 2011

Palmeiras – Vasco da Gama
Referee: Heber Lopes (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Braatz (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Beckenbrock (BRA)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Marques (BRA)

Juan Aurich – Equidad
Referee: Joaquin Antequera (BOL)
Assistant Referee 1: Arol Valda (BOL)
Assistant Referee 2: Javier Bustillos (BOL)
Fourth Official: Manuel Garay (PER)

UEFA Europa League – Play-offs (First Leg)

18 August 2011

Maccabi – Panathinaikos
Referee: Eric Braamhaar (NED, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Arend Brink (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Wilco Lobbert (NED)
Fourth Official: Pol van Boekel (NED)

Hearts – Tottenham
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Massimiliano Grilli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Giulio Dobosz (ITA)
Fourth Official: Carmine Russo (ITA)

Legia – Spartak Moscow
Referee: Michael Dean (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Darren Can (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Fourth Official: Lee Mason (ENG)

Helsinki – Schalke
Referee: Fernando Teixeira Vitienes (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Jesus Calvo Guadamuro (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Torre Cimiano (ESP)
Fourth Official: Miguel Perez Lasa (ESP)

Ekranas – Hapoel
Referee: Sascha Kever (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Raffael Zeder (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Devis Dettamanti (SUI)
Fourth Official: Daniel Wermelinger (SUI)

Lokomotiv – Spartak Trnava

Referee: Alexandru Deaconu (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Adrian Vidan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Radu Ghinguleac (ROU)
Fourth Official: Sebastian Coltescu (ROU)

Vaslui – Sparta Prague

Referee: Zsolt Szabo (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tibor Vamos (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Zsolt Varga (HUN)
Fourth Official: Jozsef Berger (HUN)

Zestafoni – FC Brugge
Referee: Harald Lechner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Andreas Fellinger (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Andreas Heidenreich (AUT)
Fourth Official: Manuel Schuettengruber (AUT)

Litex – Dynamo Kyiv
Referee: Michael Koukoulakis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Dimitrios Saraidaris (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Leonidas Vasileiadis (GRE)
Fourth Official: Stavros Tritsonis (GRE)

Vorskla – Dinamo

Referee: Liran Liany (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Danny Krasikow (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Shabtai Nahmias (ISR)
Fourth Official: Roy Reinshreiber (ISR)

Aalesund – Alkmaar

Referee: Stephan Studer (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Matthias Arnet (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Jean-Yves Wicht (SUI)
Fourth Official: Nikolaj Hanni (SUI)

Omonia – Salzburg

Referee: Lee Probert (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: David Richardson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Long (ENG)
Fourth Official: John Moss (ENG)

Austria Vienna – Gaz Metan

Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Stanislav Savitski (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dmitri Zhuk (BLR)
Fourth Official: Valeri Velichko (BLR) 

Steaua – CSKA Sofia

Referee: Tommy Skjerven (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Steinar Holvik (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Geir Age Holen (NOR)
Fourth Official: Dag Vidar Hafsas (NOR) 

Thun – Stoke

Referee: Daniel Stalhammar (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Joakim Flink (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Per Brogevik (SWE)
Fourth Official: Andreas Ekberg (SWE)

Besiktas – Alania

Referee: Stanislav Todorov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Nikolay Angelov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Ventsislav Gavrilov (BUL)
Fourth Official: Nikolay Yordanov (BUL)

Bursaspor – Anderlecht

Referee: Libor Kovarik (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Patrik Filipek (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Krystof Mencl (CZE)
Fourth Official: Roman Hrubes (CZE)

PAOK – Karpaty

Referee: Robert Malek (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Maciej Wierzbowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Krzysztof Myrmus (POL)
Fourth Official: Szymon Marciniak (POL)

Nordsjaelland – Sporting

Referee: Mark Courtney (NIR)
Assistant Referee 1: Eamon Shanks (NIR)
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Neeson (NIR)
Fourth Official: Arnold Hunter (NIR)

Slask – Rapid

Referee: Michael Weiner (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Holger Henschel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Thorsten Schiffner (GER)
Fourth Official: Peter Gagelmann (GER)

Standard – Helsingborg

Referee: Bulent Yildirim (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Mustafa Eyisoy (TUR)

Assistant Referee 2: Erdinc Sezertam (TUR)
Fourth Official: Mustafa Coskun (TUR)

Metalist – Sochaux

Referee: Stefan Johannesson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Peter Martinsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Warnmark (SWE)
Fourth Official: Michael Lerjeus (SWE)

Fulham – Dnipro

Referee: Pavel Kralovec (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Miroslav Zlamal (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Wilczek (CZE)
Fourth Official: Radek Prihoda (CZE) 

Hannover – Sevilla

Referee: Bas Nijhuis (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Rob van de Ven (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Davie Goossens (NED)
Fourth Official: Serdar Gozubuyuk (NED) 

Red Star – Rennes

Referee: Duarte Gomes (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Venancio Tome (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Serafim Nogueira (POR)
Fourth Official: Paulo Lourenco (POR)

Shamrock – Partizan

Referee: Hannes Kaasik (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Hannes Reinvald (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Silver Koiv (EST)
Fourth Official: Roomer Tarajev (EST)

Rosenborg – Larnaca

Referee: Cristian Balaj (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Zoltan Szekely (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Eduard Dumitrescu (ROU)
Fourth Official: Robert Dumitru (ROU)

Slovan – Roma

Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Javier Aguilar Rodriguez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Pau Cebrian Devis (ESP)
Fourth Official: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva (ESP)

Differdange – PSG

Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Matej Zunic (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Gregor Rojko (SVN)
Fourth Official: Davor Drecnik (SVN)

Maribor – Rangers

Referee: Manuel Grafe (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Markus Hacker (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Guido Kleve (GER)
Fourth Official: Jochen Drees (GER)

Nacional – Birmingham

Referee: Milorad Mazic (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristic (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Igor Radojcic (SRB)
Fourth Official: Dejan Dimitrijevic (SRB)

AEK – Tbilisi

Referee: Simon Lee Evans (WAL)
Assistant Referee 1: Edward King (WAL)
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Dyson (WAL)
Fourth Official: Mark Whitby (WAL)

Athletic – Trabzonspor

Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrea Stefani (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marco Barbirati (ITA)
Fourth Official: Gabriele Gava (ITA)

Lazio – Rabotnicki

Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Ilya Baryshnikov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Vitali Drozdov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Aleksandr Egorov (RUS)

Celtic – Sion

Referee: Marijo Strahonja (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Zeljko Novosel (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Sinisa Premuzaj (CRO)
Fourth Official: Igor Pristovnik (CRO)

Ried – PSV

Referee: Peter Rasmussen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Henrik Sonderby (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Niels Hoeg (DEN)
Fourth Official: Jakob Kehlet (DEN)

Atletico – Vitoria

Referee: Clement Turpin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Emmanuel Boisdenghien (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Fourth Official: Alexandre Castro (FRA)

Braga – Young Boys

Referee: Pawel Gil (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcin Borkowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Piotr Sadczuk (POL)
Fourth Official: Pawel Pskit (POL)

Damkova, first woman in the UEFA Referees Committee

Czech Dagmar Damkova has recently joined the UEFA Referees Committee as the first woman in history. UEFA and FIFA rules do not enable a committee member to be an active referee in matches played within UEFA and FIFA competititons. As a result, Damkova, 36, gave up her career as an active referee after the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup played this summer in Germany.
On the International List since 1999, Dagmar Damkova was one of the best female referees in the world, having refereed the 2008 Olympic Games final and the 2009 UEFA Women’s Euro final. She also officiated at the FIFA Women’s World Cups 2007 and 2011, the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cups 2006 and 2010, as well as the 2011 UEFA Women’s Champions League final. Damkova has joined the UEFA Referees Committee on 1 July 2011 and is expected to be in charge of the European women's refereeing.

UEFA Referees Committee 2011 - 2013
Chairman: Angel Maria Villar Lona (ESP)
Deputy Chairman: Senes Erzik (TUR)
Chief Refereeing Officer: Pierluigi Collina (ITA)
Refereeing Officers: Marc Batta (FRA), Hugh Dallas (SCO)
Members: Yuri Baskakov (RUS), Dagmar Damkova (CZE), David Elleray (ENG), Herbert Fandel (GER), Bo Karlsson (SWE), Jozef Marko (SVK), Vladimir Sajn (SVN), Jaap Uilenberg (NED), Kyros Vassaras (GRE), Kurt Zuppinger (SUI).

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011 – Semi-finals

17 August 2011

Brazil – Mexico
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (ENG, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Simon Beck (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Stephen Child (ENG)
Fourth Official: Kim Dong Jin (KOR)

France – Portugal

Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR)
Fourth Official: Djamel Haimoudi (ALG)

UEFA Champions League – Play-offs (First Leg)

16 August 2011
Olympique Lyon – Rubin Kazan
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Nicola Nicoletti (ITA)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Silvio Mazzoleni (ITA)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
Fourth Official: Andrea Gervasoni (ITA)

Arsenal – Udinese
Referee: Kevin Blom (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Nicky Siebert (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Langkamp (NED)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Reinold Wiedemeijer (NED)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Tom van Siche (NED)
Fourth Official: Danny Makklelie (NED)

Kobenhavn – Plzen
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Mullarkey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Peter Kirkup (ENG)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Friend (ENG)
Fourth Official: Michael Jones (ENG)

Twente – Benfica
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Fermin Martinez Ibanez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Carlos Yuste Jimenez (ESP)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Clos Gomez (ESP)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Cesar Muniz Fernandez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Jose Luis Paradas Romero (ESP)

Bate Borisov – Sturm Graz

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dag-Robert Nebben (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Kim Thomas Haglund (NOR)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Espen Berntsen (NOR)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Brage Sandmoen (NOR)
Fourth Official: Svein-Erik Edvartsen (NOR)

17 August 2011
Bayern Munchen – Zurich FC

Referee: Alexey Nikolaev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Averianov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Tikhon Kalugin (RUS)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Stanislav Sukhina (RUS)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Vladimir Kazmenko (RUS)
Fourth Official: Maksim Layushkin (RUS)

Dinamo Zagreb – Malmo FF

Referee: Pedro Proenca (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Tiago Trigo (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Ricardo Santos (POR)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Joao Capela (POR)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Joao Ferreira (POR)
Fourth Official: Hugo Miguel (POR)

Odense – Villarreal
Referee: Damir Skomina (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: Primoz Arhar (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: Marko Stancin (SLV)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Ponis (SLV)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Dragoslav Peric (SLV)
Fourth Official: Slavko Vincic (SLV)

Wisla Krakow – Apoel

Referee: Stephane Lannoy (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Eric Dansault (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Frederic Cano (FRA)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Oliver Thual (FRA)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Ruddy Buquet (FRA)
Fourth Official: Herve Piccirillo (FRA)

Maccabi Haifa – KRC Genk

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan-Hendrik Salver (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Mike Pickel (GER)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Peter Sippel (GER)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Christian Dingert (GER)
Fourth Official: Guido Winkmann (GER)

Massey promoted to the Select Group

Sian Massey, the assistant referee at the centre of the Sky Sports sexism row, has been promoted to the Select Group of match officials. The move means that the 25-year-old from Coventry will now run the line at more high profile games in the Premier League and the FA Cup on a regular basis. She has been a FIFA Assistant Referee since 2010 and was involved in the qualification stage for the FIFA Women's World Cup, as well as the UEFA Champions League.
Massey unwittingly found herself embroiled in a huge scandal last year which eventually saw Sky Sports pundit Andy Gray and presenter Richard Keys leave the company. Microphones picked up comments made by Keys and co-presenter Gray in what they thought was an off-air conversation before a match between Wolves Liverpool where Massey was acting as a lineswoman. In the now infamous recording, Keys and Gray appeared to agree that female officials "don't know the offside rule", with Keys adding: "I can guarantee you there'll be a big one today. Kenny (Dalglish) will go potty." After further allegations emerged, Gray was sacked from his position while Keys resigned.
The Daily Mail reports that Massey will continue to work the lines at matches, but will not referee them even though she is a qualified referee. Massey is currently on holiday but will start working on games next month.

Source: Eurosport

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 3

16 August 2011
Deportivo Anzoategui – Deportivo Quito
Referee: Enrique Osses (CHI, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Sergio Roman (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Astroza (CHI)
Fourth Official: Mayker Gomez (VEN)

Universidad Catolica – Bella Vista
Referee: Victor Carrillo (PER)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Avila (PER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jony Bossio (PER)
Fourth Official: Jorge Osorio (CHI)

17 August 2011
Liga de Quito – Yaracuyanos
Referee: Raul Orosco (BOL)
Assistant Referee 1: Efrain Castro (BOL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jorge Calderon (BOL)
Fourth Official: Samuel Haro (ECU)

Nacional – San Jose
Referee: Patricio Polic (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Julio Diaz (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Maturana (CHI)
Fourth Official: Julio Quintana (PAR)

18 August 2011
Fenix – Universidad de Chile
Referee: Heber Lopes (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Braatz (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Dibert Pedrosa (BRA)
Fourth Official: Hector Martinez (URU)

Equidad – Juan Aurich 
Referee: Marlon Escalante (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Jorge Urrego (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Jair Romero (VEN)
Fourth Official: Adrian Velez (COL)

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011 – Quarter-finals

13 August 2011
Portugal – Argentina
Referee: Peter O'Leary (NZL, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Ravinesh Kumar (FIJ)
Assistant Referee 2: Jackson Namo (SOL)
Fourth Official: Kim Dong Jin (KOR)

Mexico – Colombia
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR)
Fourth Official: Markus Strombergsson (SWE)

14 August 2011
France – Nigeria 

Referee: Dario Ubriaco (URU)
Assistant Referee 1: William Casavieja (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Pastorino (URU)
Fourth Official: Wilson Seneme (BRA)

Brazil – Spain 

Referee: Walter Lopez (GUA)
Assistant Referee 1: Hermenerito Leal (GUA)
Assistant Referee 2: Gerson Lopez (GUA)
Fourth Official: Mark Geiger (USA)

CONCACAF Champions League – Group Stage (I)

16 August 2011
Santos Laguna – Real Espana

Referee: Walter Quesada (CRC, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Leonel Leal (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Octavio Jara (CRC)
Fourth Official: Jeffery Solis (CRC)

LA Galaxy – Motagua

Referee: Enrico Wijngaarde (SUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ramon Louisville (SUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Garnet Page (JAM)
Fourth Official: Kevin Thomas (JAM)

Alajuelense – Morelia

Referee: Roberto Moreno (PAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Williamson (PAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Rey Mendoza (PAN)
Fourth Official: Jafeth Perea (PAN)

Seattle Sounders – Comunicaciones

Referee: Paul Delgadillo (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Marco Quinteros (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Salvador Rodriguez (MEX)
Cuarto: Alfredo Penaloza (MEX)

17 August 2011
Herediano – Monterrey

Referee: Marlon Mejia (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: Miguel Mendez (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: Douglas Bermudez (SLV)
Fourth Official: Joel Aguilar (SLV)

Pumas UNAM – FC Dallas

Referee: Jose Molina (HON)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Rodas (HON)
Assistant Referee 2: Oscar Velasquez (HON)
Fourth Official: Hector Rodriguez (HON)

Colorado Rapids – Metapan

Referee: Trevor Taylor (BRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Adrian Goddard (BRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Clifton Garnes (BRB)
Fourth Official: Adrian Skeete (BRB)

18 August 2011
Tauro – Toronto FC

Referee: Marcos Brea (CUB)
Assistant Referee 1: Hiran Dopico (CUB)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Rodriguez (CUB)
Fourth Official: David Rubalcaba (CUB)

Six referees banned for life

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee, under the chairmanship of Marcel Mathier (Switzerland), met on 9 August 2011, to examine two cases, one related to the official Lisle Austin (Barbados), and the other related to the match officials Sinisa Zrnic (photo), Kenan Bajramovic and Rizah Ridalovic (from Bosnia-Herzegovina), and Kolos Lengyel, Janos Csak and Krisztian Selmeczi (from Hungary).
In the first case, the committee decided to ban Lisle Austin (member of the FIFA Referees Committee) from taking part in any football-related activity for a period of one year for lodging a claim related to football matters in front of the ordinary courts in the Bahamas, constituting a breach of art. 64 par. 2 of the FIFA Statutes. The Disciplinary Committee also decided that should Lisle Austin not withdraw the claim lodged in front of the ordinary courts in the Bahamas definitively and irrevocably, he will remain banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level in accordance with art. 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code for as long as the legal proceedings in ordinary courts are pursued.
Meanwhile, the six match officials (Sinisa Zrnic, Kenan Bajramovic, Rizah Ridalovic, Kolos Lengyel, Janos Csak and Krisztian Selmeczi) have all been banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at national and international level for life. The officials were found guilty of breaching art. 62 par. 2 (passive corruption) and art. 69 par. 1 (unlawfully influencing match results) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. The breach was committed in relation to the international “A” friendly matches Bolivia-Latvia and Estonia-Bulgaria played in Antalya (Turkey) on 9 February 2011.

Source: FIFA

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011: O'Leary replaced by Vad

Initially appointed for the Round of 16 match Brazil - Saudi Arabia, Peter O'Leary (NZL) was replaced by Istvan Vad (HUN). Most likely, FIFA is intending to assign a quarter-final to O'Leary.

10 August 2011
Brazil – Saudi Arabia
Referee: Istvan Vad (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Gyorgy Ring (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Zsolt Szpisjak (HUN)

Fourth Official: William Collum (SCO)

Proenca attacked while shopping

Portuguese media reports say international referee Pedro Proenca was attacked late Monday in Lisbon. The Portuguese news agency Lusa says an individual struck Proenca in the head while he was in a shopping center, breaking two of his teeth. Police reportedly arrested the aggressor and Proenca later filed charges.
The 40-year-old Pedro Proenca refereed Porto's win over Guimaraes in the Portuguese Supercup earlier this week and last season's Champions League semifinal between Manchester United and Schalke. Proenca was ranked as the best referee in the Portuguese league by the Portuguese football federation last season.

Source: Fox News

Recopa Sudamericana 2011

First Leg, 10 August 2011
Independiente B. A. – Internacional P. A.
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (COL, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Abraham Gonzalez (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Humberto Clavijo (COL)
Fourth Official: Albert Duarte (COL)

Second Leg, 24 August 2011
Internacional P. A. – Independiente B. A.
Referee: Jorge Larrionda (URU)
Assistant Referee 1: Pablo Fandino (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mauricio Espinosa (URU)
Fourth Official: Liber Prudente (URU)

Friendly Matches – 10 August 2011

Germany – Brazil
Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Gabor Eros (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Tibor Vamos (HUN)


Italy – Spain
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Borsch (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Thorsten Schiffner (GER)


Ukraine – Sweden
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Giorgio Niccolai (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Simone Ghiandai (ITA)

France – Chile

Referee: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: David Richardson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Watts (ENG)


Hungary – Island
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Pickel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Guido Kleve (GER)

Portugal – Luxembourg
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Javier Aguilar Rodriguez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Pau Cebrian Devis (ESP)


Turkey – Estonia
Referee: Lee Probert (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Mullarkey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Jake Collin (ENG)


Poland – Georgia
Referee: Andriy Shandor (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ihor Ponomarenko (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Serhiy Voznyak (UKR)


Ireland – Croatia
Referee: Tom Harald Hagen (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Svein Inge Wiken (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dag Roger Nebben (NOR)

Scotland – Denmark
Referee: Marco Borg (MLT)
Assistant Referee 1: Konrad Borg (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Edward Spiteri (MLT)

Belarus – Bulgaria
Referee: Nerijus Dunauskas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Arturas Pipiras (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Saulius Dirda (LTU)


Ghana – Nigeria
Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Peter Kirkup (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Stuart Burt (ENG)

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 2

9 August 2011
Universidad de Chile – Fenix

Referee: Julio Quintana (PAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dario Goana (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Hugo Martinez (PAR)
Fourth Official: Eduardo Gamboa (CHI)

10 August 2011
Ceara – Sao Pablo
Referee: Sandro Ricci (BRA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Didiert Pedrosa (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Joia Rodrigo Pereira (BRA)
Fourth Official: Marcelo Henrique (BRA)

Flamengo – Atletico Paranaense
Referee: Ricardo Marques (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Altemir Hausmann (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Erich Bandeira (BRA)
Fourth Official: Gutemberg Fonseca (BRA)

Atletico Mineiro – Botafogo

Referee: Paulo Cesar Oliveira (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Braatz (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Berkenbrock (BRA)
Fourth Official: Heber Lopes (BRA)

11 August 2011
The Strongest – Olimpia

Referee: Victor Rivera (PER)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Abadie (PER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jorge Hurtado (PER)
Fourth Official: Oscar Maldonado (BOL)

Vasco da Gama – Palmeiras

Referee: Pedro Vuaden (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Altemir Hausmann (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Erich Bandeira (BRA)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Marques (BRA)