VAR effect: Penalty kicks increased by 63% in Serie A

One of the most interesting news of this Serie A campaign is the introduction of VAR. The video assistant referee has already helped Italian referees to change some wrong decisions they took but, of course, there is a direct consequence of the application of this new tool. Penalty kicks given in the opening five Serie A games of the season, in fact, have increased by 63%. An average of 13.5 penalties were given in the opening five games of the previous four Serie A campaigns but the introduction of the VAR has skyrocketed the number of penalties allowed in Italy this season. One positive example of the usage of VAR came when the referee of Juventus - Fiorentina, Daniele Doveri, awarded Juventus a penalty kick. After a VAR check, however, Doveri noticed Milan Badelj’s foul was outside the penalty area and so he decided to give Juventus a free kick plus booking the Croat for a second time and giving him his marching orders. During Genoa - Juventus, however, the referee allowed a penalty kick against Juventus without noticing that the player fouled by Daniele Rugani was returning from an offside position. So far, there are more pros than cons although many improvements have yet to be made. (Source: Calciomercato)
The president of the Italian Football Association has said he believes the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in Serie A this season has been a success so far. Italy's top division is one of several European leagues using the technology to review contentious situations. And Carlo Tavecchio said he was pleased with what he had seen during the first six rounds of matches, telling RAI Radio 1: "The VAR is something that I wanted a long time ago. It is a great method of justice, above all, and I would like to say that at least 10 decisions have been corrected, and these have ensured sporting justice. Like anything, it takes time to get used to it, but as far as the time [taken for decisions] is concerned, the data shows that it is taking a bit longer than we had expected and we need to reduce the time it takes. But even the technology is led by humans, and humans are not perfect". Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said he believed the use of VAR would soon spread, adding: "Bit by bit, as it goes on, you get the best out of it. The VAR is being used correctly in Italy, and I'm very happy because Italy is pioneering an important change. I think there will be uniformity in coming years and this technology will arrive in all countries. It's a positive development". (Source:ESPN)

UEFA Europa League – Group Stage (Matchday 2)

28 September 2017

Olympique Lyonnais – Atalanta Bergamo
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Holger Henschel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Additional AR 1: Sascha Stegemann (GER)
Additional AR 2: Benjamin Brand (GER)
Fourth Official: Markus Häcker (GER)
Referee Observer: Uno Tutk (EST

FK Astana – Slavia Praha
Referee: Andreas Ekberg (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Fredrik Nilsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Hallberg (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Bojan Pandžić (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Kristoffer Karlsson (SWE)
Fourth Official: Magnus Sjöblom (SWE)
Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn (GER)

Maccabi Tel Aviv – Villarreal
Referee: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Lee Betts (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ian Hussin (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Paul Tierney (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Chris Kavanagh (ENG)
Fourth Official: Edward Smart (ENG)
Referee Observer: Gylfi Orrason (ISL)

Partizan – Dynamo Kyiv
Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Kim Haglund (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Magnus Lundberg (NOR)
Additional AR 1: Tore Hansen (NOR)
Additional AR 2: Espen Eskås (NOR)
Fourth Official: Jan Erik Engan (NOR)
Referee Observer: Gaetano De Gabriele (MLT)

Skënderbeu – Young Boys
Referee: Kevin Blom (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Charles Schaap (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Joost van Zuilen (NED)
Additional AR 1: Jeroen Manschot (NED)
Additional AR 2: Allard Lindhout (NED)
Fourth Official: Hessel Steegstra (NED)
Referee Observer: Aleksei Spirin (RUS)

SC Braga – İstanbul Başakşehir
Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Vidali (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Mitja Žganec (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Dejan Balažič (SVN)
Fourth Official: Tomislav Pospeh (SVN)
Referee Observer: Jan Wegereef (NED)

Ludogorets – Hoffenheim
Referee: Pawel Raczkowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Michal Obukowicz (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Additional AR 1: Tomasz Musiał (POL)
Additional AR 2: Tomasz Kwiatkowsk (POL)
Fourth Official: Arkadiusz Wójcik (POL)
Referee Observer: Vadims Direktorenko (LVA)

AEK Athens – Austria Wien
Referee: Pawel Gil (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Konrad Sapela (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Radosław Siejka (POL)
Additional AR 1: Jaroslaw Przybyl (POL)
Additional AR 2: Piotr Lasyk (POL)
Fourth Official: Pawel Sokolnicki (POL)
Referee Observer: Shmuel Shteif (ISR)

AC Milan – HNK Rijeka
Referee: Orel Grinfeld (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Danny Krasikow (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Roy Hassan (ISR)
Additional AR 1: Eli Hacmon (ISR)
Additional AR 2: Ziv Adler (ISR)
Fourth Official: Amihay Mozes (ISR)
Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin (SVN)

Everton FC – Apollon Limassol
Referee: Tamás Bognár (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Balázs Buzás (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Theodoros Georgiou (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Ádám Farkas (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Péter Solymosi (HUN)
Fourth Official: Péter Kóbor (HUN)
Referee Observer: Juan Fernandez Marín (ESP)

Lokomotiv Moskva – Fastav Zlín
Referee: Simon Lee Evans (WAL)
Assistant Referee 1: Philip Thomas (WAL)
Assistant Referee 2: Ian Bird (WAL)
Additional AR 1: Bryn Markham-Jones (WAL)
Additional AR 2: Nick Pratt (WAL)
Fourth Official: Daniel Beckett (WAL)
Referee Observer: Charles Agius (MLT)

Sheriff Tiraspol – FC Kobenhavn
Referee: Clayton Pisani (MLT)
Assistant Referee 1: Edward Spiteri (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Mitchell Scerri (MLT)
Additional AR 1: Fyodor Zammit (MLT)
Additional AR 2: Philip Farrugia (MLT)
Fourth Official: Alan Camilleri (MLT)
Referee Observer: Michael Koukoulakis (GRE)

Lugano – FCSB
Referee: Serhiy Boiko (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Oleg Pluzhnyk (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Volodymyr Volodin (UKR)
Additional AR 1: Mykola Balakin (UKR)
Additional AR 2: Oleksandr Derdo (UKR)
Fourth Official: Oleksandr Korniyko (UKR)
Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović (SRB)

Viktoria Plzeň – Hapoel Beer Sheva
Referee: István Vad (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: István Albert (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Peter Berettyán (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Sándor Szabó (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Ferenc Karakó (HUN)
Fourth Official: Vencel Tóth (HUN)
Referee Observer: Michael Argyrou (CYP)

Bate Borisov – Arsenal
Referee: Daniel Stefanski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcin Boniek (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Dawid Golis (POL)
Additional AR 1: Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Additional AR 2: Zbigniew Dobrynin (POL)
Fourth Official: Krzysztof Myrmus (POL)
Referee Observer: Leslie Irvine (NIR)

FC Köln – Crvena Zvezda
Referee: Bas Nijhuis (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Rob van de Ven (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Vries (NED)
Additional AR 1: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
Additional AR 2: Siemen Mulder (NED)
Fourth Official: Davie Goossens (NED)
Referee Observer: Kaj Ostergaard (DEN)

FC Salzburg – Olympique Marseille
Referee: Ivan Bebek (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomislav Petrović (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Miro Grgić (CRO)
Additional AR 1: Mario Zebec (CRO)
Additional AR 2: Goran Gabrilo (CRO)
Fourth Official: Goran Pataki (CRO)
Referee Observer: Ray Ellingham (WAL)

Konyaspor Kulübü – Vitória SC
Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD)
Assistant Referee 1: Marjan Kirovski (MKD)
Assistant Referee 2: Dejan Kostadinov (MKD)
Additional AR 1: Dimitar Meckarovski (MKD)
Additional AR 2: Dejan Jakimovski (MKD)
Fourth Official: Goce Petreski (MKD)
Referee Observer: Lassin Isaksen (FRO)

Athletic Club – Zorya Luhansk
Referee: Halis Özkahya (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Çem Satman (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Ekrem Kan (TUR)
Additional AR 1: Ali Palabıyık (TUR)
Additional AR 2: Yasar Uğurlu (TUR)
Fourth Official: Ceyhun Sesigüzel (TUR)
Referee Observer: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

Östersunds – Hertha
Referee: Luca Banti (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Andrea Crispo (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Daniele Doveri (ITA)
Fourth Official: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Referee Observer: Vladimir Medved (SVK)

Lazio – Zulte Waregem
Referee: Harald Lechner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Andreas Heidenreich (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Maximilian Kolbitsch (AUT)
Additional AR 1: Alexander Harkam (AUT)
Additional AR 2: Julian Weinberger (AUT)
Fourth Official: Andreas Witschnigg (AUT)
Referee Observer: Peter Jones (ENG)

OGC Nice – SBV Vitesse
Referee: Aleksei Eskov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Dmitri Mosyakin (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Igor Demeshko (RUS)
Additional AR 1: Mikhail Vilkov (RUS)
Additional AR 2: Vladimir Moskalev (RUS)
Fourth Official: Valeri Danchenko (RUS)
Referee Observer: Stefan Messner (AUT)

Rosenborg – Vardar
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Margaritov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Venev (BUL)
Additional AR 1: Nikola Popov (BUL)
Additional AR 2: Stanislav Todorov (BUL)
Fourth Official: Georgi Todorov (BUL)
Referee Observer: David Malcolm (NIR)

Zenit – Real Sociedad
Referee: Andre Marriner (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stephen Child (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Harry Lennard (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Kevin Friend (ENG)
Fourth Official: Constantine Hatzidakis (ENG)
Referee Observer: Pascal Garibian (FRA)

“Poll moment” in USL

The North-American United Soccer League (USL) has acknowledged that a player should have been sent off after receiving a second yellow card in the match Sounders II – Phoenix Rising. While that may seem like grounds for some sort of replay of what turned out to be a 1-0 victory for Phoenix Rising, the only punishment handed down will be for the referees of the game to be suspended.
The incident in question happened in the 60th minute when Victor Vasquez (Phoenix) was clearly shown a second yellow card. The announcers on the livestream immediately recognized it and the official box score even correctly identified him. Neither referee Katja Koroleva nor any of her assistants apparently realized it, though. Phoenix’s coaching staff, perhaps fearing that it was only a matter of time until the error was discovered, removed Vasquez from the match after only 2 minutes. Sounders II midfielder Jordy Delem was not so lucky, though, as he picked up his second yellow in the 64th minute and was sent off. So, instead of potentially playing the final 30-odd minutes a man up, Sounders II played the final 26 minutes a man down. While this at least opens the door for some sort of replay, the USL will instead go with the path of least resistance and accept the U.S. Soccer Federation’s decision to simply suspend the match officials for an indefinite period. Vasquez will also be suspended for Phoenix’s next game. That there’s no promise to make the findings of their investigation public further twists the knife, not that there’s much hope of them discovering anything beyond “we messed up”. Ekaterina Koroleva has been a FIFA referee since 2014 and is among the pre-selected referees for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019.
This is hardly the first time an error like this has ever happened. Most prominently, referee Graham Poll eventually showed Croatia’s Josip Šimunić three yellow cards before sending him off in a 2006 World Cup match against Australia. The second of those cards, though, came in the 90th minute and Australia was still able to advance beyond the group stage. If they had lost and failed to advance, it was speculated that they would have had grounds for an appeal. Interestingly, another American referee, Kevin Stott, was the fourth official in that match. 

Source: SBNation

UEFA Futsal Euro 2018 Qualifiers – Play-offs

First Leg, 12 September 2017

Hungary – Poland
Referee 1: Bogdan Sorescu (ROU, photo)
Referee 2: Oleg Ivanov (UKR)


Czech Republic – Serbia
Referee 1: Angelo Galante (ITA)
Referee 2: Alessandro Malfer (ITA)

Romania – Georgia
Referee 1: Eduardo Fernandes (POR)
Referee 2: Nuno Bogalho (POR)

France – Croatia
Referee 1: Gabor Kovacs (HUN)
Referee 2: Balazs Farkas (HUN)

Second Leg, 26 September 2017

Serbia – Czech Republic
Referee 1: Juan Gallardo (ESP)
Referee 2: Alejandro Martinez (ESP)

Georgia – Romania
Referee 1: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)
Referee 2: Timo Onatsu (FIN)

Poland – Hungary
Referee 1: Sasa Tomic (CRO)
Referee 2: Nikola Jelic (CRO)

Croatia – France
Referee 1: Marc Birkett (ENG)
Referee 2: Kamil Cetin (TUR)

Original protest of Irish referees

The Football Association of Ireland are faced with a fresh dispute as League of Ireland referees seek assurances that their match expenses are paid on time in the future. Independent.ie understands that some League refs have faced delays in receiving their monthly match expenses.
Following the EA Sports Cup games, the men in black took the decision not to upload their match reports onto a centralised online system, instead faxing them into Abbotstown. Unless the issue is resolved, they will follow the same procedure following next round of League games. The officials’ reports include everything that happens during a game and can take up to an hour to compile. "The referees are quite annoyed about this," a source told Independent.ie. "We have sought assurances about this the season before last and it is coming to a head now. We fill out our expenses before the fifth of each month and the agreement is that they are paid on the final Friday of the month by cheque. "This is nearly eight weeks after the first expense is incurred so you can understand the frustration if it does not arrive on time." It is understood the FAI are engaging with the referees in a bid to resolve the issue and all match referees are currently up to date on payments.

Source: Refnews

UEFA Youth League – Group Stage (Matchday 2)

26 September 2017
Sevilla FC – NK Maribor
Referee: Jens Maae (DEN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Dennis Rasmussen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Skytte (DEN)
Fourth Official: Jorge Figueroa Vázquez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Bernardino González (ESP)


Spartak Moskva – Liverpool
Referee: Donatas Rumšas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Arūnas Šeškus (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Gevork Arakelian (LTU)
Fourth Official: Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS)
Referee Observer: Aleksei Spirin (RUS)

Napoli – Feyenoord
Referee: Anastassios Papapetrou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Ioánnis Sípkas (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Vassílios Kamboúris (GRE)
Fourth Official: Federico La Penna (ITA)
Referee Observer: Domenico Messina (ITA)

Manchester City – Shakhtar Donetsk
Referee: Kai Erik Steen (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Anders Dale (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Isaak Skjeseth (NOR)
Fourth Official: Thomas Nield (ENG)
Referee Observer: Stephen Lodge (ENG)

Beşiktaş JK – RB Leipzig
Referee: Rahim Hasanov (AZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Vaqif Musayev (AZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Akif Amirali (AZE)
Fourth Official: Mert Güzenge (TUR)
Referee Observer: Erol Ersoy (TUR)

AS Monaco – FC Porto
Referee: Alain Durieux (LUX)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Da Costa (LUX)
Assistant Referee 2: David Santos (LUX)
Fourth Official: Faouzi Benchabane (FRA)
Referee Observer: Fredy Fautrel (FRA)

Apoel – Tottenham Hotspur
Referee: Stefan Apostolov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Dimitar Rusev (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Miroslav Maksimov (BUL)
Fourth Official: Timótheos Christofí (CYP)
Referee Observer: Michális Argyroú (CYP)

Borussia Dortmund – Real Madrid
Referee: Lawrence Visser (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Karel De Rocker (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jo De Weirdt (BEL)
Fourth Official: Benedikt Kempkes (GER)
Referee Observer: Eugen Strigel (GER)

27 September 2017
CSKA Moskva – Manchester United
Referee: Juri Frischer (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Dmitri Vinogradov (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Aron Härsing (EST)
Fourth Official: Yevgeniy Turbin (RUS)
Referee Observer: Nikolai Ivanov (RUS)

Basel – Benfica
Referee: Edin Jakupović (BIH)
Assistant Referee 1: Sreten Udovičić (BIH)
Assistant Referee 2: Goran Dujak (BIH)
Fourth Official: Lionel Tschudi (SUI)
Referee Observer: Andreas Schluchter (SUI)

Paris Saint Germain – Bayern München
Referee: Tihomir Pejin (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Marjan Tomas (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Kruno Šarić (CRO)
Fourth Official: Bastien Dechepy (FRA)
Referee Observer: Johan Verbist (BEL)

RSC Anderlecht – Celtic FC
Referee: Kristo Tohver (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Sten Klaasen (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Jaan Roos (EST)
Fourth Official: Lothar D'Hondt (BEL)
Referee Observer: Joeri Van De Velde (BEL)

Qarabağ FK – AS Roma
Referee: Horațiu Feșnic (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Alexandru Cerei (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mihai Marica (ROU)
Fourth Official: İnqilab Mammadov (AZE)
Referee Observer: Haim Jakov (ISR)

Atlético de Madrid – Chelsea
Referee: Kevin Clancy (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Jordan Stokoe (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: David Doig (SCO)
Fourth Official: Valentín Pizarro Gómez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Manuel López Fernández (ESP)

Juventus – Olympiakós

Referee: Fedayi San (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Stéphane De Almeida (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Carmine Sangiovanni (SUI)
Fourth Official: Davide Ghersini (ITA)
Referee Observer: Thomas Einwaller (AUT)

Sporting Clube – FC Barcelona
Referee: François Letexier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Cyril Mugnier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Mehdi Rahmouni (FRA)
Fourth Official: Rui Rodrigues (POR)
Referee Observer: Antonio Almeida (POR)

UEFA Youth League – Domestic Champions Path (Round 1, First Leg)

26 September 2017
Girondins de Bordeaux – RB Salzburg
Referee: Luís Godinho (POR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Teixeira (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Nélson Cordeiro (POR)
Fourth Official: Cédric Dos Santos (FRA)
Referee Observer: Marcel Vanelsocht (BEL)

Dinamo – Lokomotiva Zagreb
Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (GEO)
Assistant Referee 1: Davit Chigogidze (GEO)
Assistant Referee 2: Levan Todria (GEO)
Fourth Official: Horia Mladinovici (ROU)
Referee Observer: Nicolae Grigorescu (ROU)

Zimbru Chișinău – KS Vllaznia
Referee: Zaven Hovhannisyan (ARM)
Assistant Referee 1: Erik Arevshatyan (ARM)
Assistant Referee 2: Artur Gdlyan (ARM)
Fourth Official: Ion Orlic (MDA)
Referee Observer: Igor Șațkii (MDA)

Hammarby – Ajax

Referee: Alex Troleis (FAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Christiansen (FAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Andersen (FAR)
Fourth Official: Patrik Eriksson (SWE)
Referee Observer: Martin Ingvarsson (SWE)

27 September 2017
KäPa – Esbjerg
Referee: Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Gustavsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Peter Magnusson (SWE)
Fourth Official: Jani Laaksonen (FIN)
Referee Observer: Petteri Kari (FIN)

Inter Milano – Dynamo Kyiv

Referee: Nenad Djokić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Miloš Simović (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Marko Djuričić (SRB)
Fourth Official: Daniele Chiffi (ITA)
Referee Observer: Stefano Podeschi (SMR)

Kairat Almaty – FC Krasnodar

Referee: Halil Meler (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Mehmet Tuğral (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Deniz Özaral (TUR)
Fourth Official: Daniyar Sakhi (KAZ)
Referee Observer: Pavel Saliy (KAZ)

Ludogorets Razgrad – FK Željezničar
Referee: Alexandru Tean (MDA)
Assistant Referee 1: Dumitru Ciobanu (MDA)
Assistant Referee 2: Anatolie Basiul (MDA)
Fourth Official: Dragomir Draganov (BUL)
Referee Observer: Kostadin Gerginov (BUL)

Bursaspor – Saburtalo
Referee: Furkat Atazhanov (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 1: Samat Tergeussizov (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 2: Sergey Kalachyov (KAZ)
Fourth Official: Zorbay Küçük (TUR)
Referee Observer: Sabri Çelik (TUR)

Dudelange – Sparta Praha
Referee: Luís Teixeira (AND)
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Fernandes (AND)
Assistant Referee 2: Alexis Terrazo (AND)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Fernandes (LUX)
Referee Observer: Luc Wilmes (LUX)

FK Brodarac – Maccabi Haifa
Referee: Pavel Orel (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Petr Blažej (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Jiří Kříž (CZE)
Fourth Official: Andrija Stojanović (SRB)
Referee Observer: Boško Jovanetić (SRB)

Breiðablik – Legia Warszawa
Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytis Snarskis (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mantas Lešinskas (LTU)
Fourth Official: Egill Gudlaugsson (ISL)
Referee Observer: Pjetur Sigurdsson (ISL)

CONMEBOL Women referees course

The seminar, which gathers 43 referees from the 10 countries of the Confederation, has among its objectives to analyze the modifications and interpretations of the Laws of the Game and uniform considerations with respect to reading of play and positioning, tactical fouls, offside, handball and teamwork.
Wilson Seneme, chairman of the CONMEBOL Referees Committee, Kari Seitz of the FIFA Referees Department and Lorena Soto, coordinator of Women's Football Development were in charge of opening the Seminar and welcoming everyone present. "At CONMEBOL, we want to work towards and we are looking for modern referees. The differences between men's and women's football were much reduced. The players today have much more tactical and technical preparation, so we cannot be left behind", said Seneme. "Referees take care of their careers and you are professionals. We can no longer say that we are not ready because now we gain experience in courses and championships". Finally, he encouraged all the referees to work and concentrate on training and classes while "living in a positive environment that is the environment that we live in South American football". The technical and practical work will include classroom sessions, video test Law 12 and video test Law 11, while the field exercises will be performed with players and will include simulations and integrated exercises, completed with physical training. The course is developed within the framework of the CONMEBOL Development Program.

Source: CONMEBOL

UEFA Champions League – Group Stage (Matchday 2)

26 September 2017
Borussia Dortmund – Real Madrid
Referee: Björn Kuipers (NED, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Sander van Roekel (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Erwin Zeinstra (NED)
Additional AR 1: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Additional AR 2: Dennis Higler (NED)
Fourth Official: Mario Diks (NED)
Referee Observer: Ilkka Koho (FIN)

Spartak Moskva – Liverpool FC
Referee: Clément Turpin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Ruddy Buquet (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Nicolas Rainville (FRA)
Fourth Official: Hicham Zakrani (FRA)
Referee Observer: Emil Bozhinovski (MKD)

Sevilla FC – NK Maribor
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dimitri Zhuk (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleh Maslianka (BLR)
Additional AR 1: Dzianis Shcharbakou (BLR)
Additional AR 2: Viktar Shymusik (BLR)
Fourth Official: Yury Khomchanka (BLR)
Referee Observer: Matteo Trefoloni (ITA)

Manchester City – Shakhtar Donetsk
Referee: Manuel De Sousa (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Alvaro Mesquita (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Ricardo Santos (POR)
Additional AR 1: Carlos Xistra (POR)
Additional AR 2: Fabio Veríssimo (POR)
Fourth Official: Nuno Pereira (POR)
Referee Observer: Manuel Díaz Vega (ESP)

Napoli – Feyenoord
Referee: William Collum (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: David McGeachie (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Douglas Ross (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Robert Madden (SCO)
Additional AR 2: John Beaton (SCO)
Fourth Official: Francis Connor (SCO)
Referee Observer: Alain Hamer (LUX)

AS Monaco – FC Porto
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovačič (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Rade Obrenović (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Roberto Ponis (SVN)
Fourth Official: Grega Kordež (SVN)
Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (GRE)

Beşiktaş JK – RB Leipzig
Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Averyanov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Tikhon Kalugin (RUS)
Additional AR 1: Sergey Lapochkin (RUS)
Additional AR 2: Sergei Ivanov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Maksim Gavrilin (RUS)
Referee Observer: Vladimir Antonov (MDA)

Apoel – Tottenham Hotspur
Referee: Pavel Královec (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Roman Slyško (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Ivo Nádvorník (CZE)
Additional AR 1: Petr Ardeleánu (CZE)
Additional AR 2: Karel Hrubeš (CZE)
Fourth Official: Martin Wilczek (CZE)
Referee Observer: Francesco Bianchi (SUI)

27 September 2017
CSKA Moskva – Manchester United
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klaseniuns (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Wärnmark (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Stefan Johannesson (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
Fourth Official: Mehmet Culum (SWE)
Referee Observer: Murat Ilgaz (TUR)

FC Basel – SL Benfica
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Graeme Stewart (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Andrew Dallas (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Donald Robertson (SCO)
Fourth Official: Stuart Stevenson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Alexandru Deaconu (ROU)

RSC Anderlecht – Celtic FC
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Yuste Jiménez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Ángel Nevado Rodríguez (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Javier Estrada Fernández (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Fourth Official: Roberto Alonso Fernández (ESP)
Referee Observer: Ichko Lozev (BUL)

Paris St. Germain – Bayern München
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Pau Cebrián Devís (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Javier Aguilar Rodriguez (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP)
Fourth Official: Teodoro Sobrino Magán (ESP)
Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen (NOR)

Atlético de Madrid – Chelsea FC
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR)
Additional AR 1: Hüseyin Göçek (TUR)
Additional AR 2: Baris Şimşek (TUR)
Fourth Official: Mustafa Eyisoy (TUR)
Referee Observer: Levan Paniashvili (GEO)

Qarabağ FK – AS Roma
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Tavares (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Paulo Santos (POR)
Additional AR 1: Tiago Martins (POR)
Additional AR 2: João Pinheiro (POR)
Fourth Official: Bruno Rodrigues (POR)
Referee Observer: Haim Jakov (ISR)

Sporting Clube – FC Barcelona
Referee: Ovidiu Haţegan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Sovre (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU)
Additional AR 1: István Kovács (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Sebastian Colţescu (ROU)
Fourth Official: Radu Ghinguleac (ROU)
Referee Observer: Zbigniew Przesmycki (POL)

Juventus – Olympiacos
Referee: Tobias Stieler (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Pickel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Seidel (GER)
Additional AR 1: Marco Fritz (GER)
Additional AR 2: Harm Osmers (GER)
Fourth Official: Christian Gittelmann (GER)
Referee Observer: Bertrand Layec (FRA)

Referee Kim gunning for 2018 World Cup appearance

South Korea's national football team has qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but there's one other thing the country is looking to achieve: sending its referees to the sport's showpiece event. The Korea Football Association (KFA) is pushing for the refereeing trio of Kim Jong-hyeok, Yoon Kwang-yeol and Kim Young-ha to officiate matches at the World Cup in Russia. In order to become World Cup referees, they must earn a recommendation from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) before FIFA makes its final decision. Kim Jong-hyeok, 34, has been working as the main referee and is the youngest of the three. If his group earns selection, he will be the first South Korean to serve as a head referee at the top FIFA competition on foreign soil. "If you're a football referee, you want to officiate matches at the World Cup," Kim said to Yonhap News Agency on Thursday at KFA House in Seoul. "People say World Cup referees are chosen from heaven. I just hope I hear good news later." FIFA will announce the match officials for the 2018 World Cup when the group draw takes place at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on 1 December 2017.
The history of South Korean officials at the World Cup started in 1994 when Park Hae-yong worked as an assistant referee at the tournament in the United States. He was followed by Jeon Young-hyun, who also served as a linesman at the 1998 World Cup in France. At the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, Kim Young-joo became first Korean head referee for a World Cup match in a group stage contest between Brazil and Turkey in Ulsan. South Korea then produced Kim Dae-young and Jeong Hae-sang as assistant referees for the 2006 and the 2010 World Cups, respectively. South Korea, however, failed to send a World Cup referee to Brazil in 2014 after FIFA started selecting match officials as a team. "I don't know exactly when, but after we failed to produce referees for the 2014 World Cup, the KFA President Chung Mong-gyu pointed out that we should have one for the next World Cup," Kim said. "The KFA then started a so-called 'future World Cup referee' project and six members were selected. But one group quit and now there are only three." Kim's group has been gradually building up its reputation. The three South Koreans were one of the 22 refereeing trios at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea earlier this year. They have also officiated matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifying competition. The trio will take charge of the AFC Champions League semifinal between Al Hilal and Persepolis in the United Arab Emirates next week. "In domestic league matches, even if you commit mistakes, you can recover in the next match, but on the international stage, every match is critical," he said. "A single mistake can cause people to file letters of complaint against us, but so far, we haven't received any."
Kim started his refereeing career 16 years ago. When he began playing football at age 11, Kim wanted to become a professional player, but a series of knee injuries prevented him from pursuing his dream. His high school coach Ki Young-ok, father of Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng and now general manager of K League Classic side Gwangju FC, then suggested Kim pursue a refereeing career. "I didn't like it at first when Ki told me that I would be fit for a referee job," he said. "But I found out that refereeing is fun. While I was taking referee classes, I realized that I could work internationally and decided to pursue a career in refereeing." Kim said he watches match videos for at least four to five hours a week to study various situations that can happen during a game. Maintaining good fitness and studying English are also important since he needs to run up and down the field with pro players and communicate with them. "Since I was once a player, I thought I would do well in refereeing, but applying the rules is different from playing football," he said. "I found out that once you know the team's tactics, the key players and personalities of each player, it really helps in refereeing." Kim, who won the KFA's top referee award last year, said he doesn't think there's a set standard for good refereeing. "Even if I thought I had refereed a match well, I always feel some regret after reviewing my performance," he said. "So I just try to minimize my mistakes as much as possible." Kim, a father of two children, said it would be a great honor for him and his family if he were to referee at the upcoming World Cup. And he also hopes his selection can further change negative perceptions of football referees, who have been tainted by match-fixing and bribery scandals in the past. He added that it's time for referees to go out and prove that they're doing good for football. "I hope people will have a positive view of referees," he said. "Personally, I want to recommend this job to my son, because being a referee really is a wonderful job."

Source: Yonhap

Anti-racism group angry as refereeing MP escapes SFA action

A leading anti-racism group has slammed the Scottish FA' decision not to refer assistant referee Douglas Ross to a disciplinary panel for comments about "gypsies and travellers". Ross, a prominent assistant referee who has officiated at cup finals and matches at international level, is also the Conservative MP for Moray. During an interview, he was asked what he would do if he were prime minister for one day. His answer, that he would "like to see tougher enforcement against gypsies and travellers", was brought to the attention of Scottish football's governing body. The matter was referred to the Scottish FA's compliance officer who reviewed the comments and decided there was no case for a potential rule breach to be referred to an independent disciplinary panel. Show Racism The Red Card have written to the governing body and to UEFA protesting the decision, saying that Ross' remarks were "racist" and "irresponsible". The group said that the Scottish FA was showing a failure of leadership by deciding not to act. As a professional assistant referee, Ross is subject to the same rules as players, managers and others who hold an official position within the game. The governing body's regulations include a rule on "comments of a discriminatory or offensive nature". Though no formal action was taken, Ross was warned that he should pay attention to his language. Following the compliance officer's decision, Scottish FA spokesperson said: "Mr. Ross had been reminded by the Compliance Officer that he should give careful regard to the Scottish FA's disciplinary rules whilst under its jurisdiction." In the House of Commons Register of Members' Interests, Ross declared earnings of more than £2700 for his work as an assistant referee in Scotland and Europe. The payments included £1305 from the Scottish FA and £1436.65 from UEFA.
Show Racism The Red Card statement in full: "Show Racism the Red Card has written to both the Scottish Football Association as well as the Union of European Football Associations regarding the SFA not finding sufficient evidence that Douglas Ross breached the rule prohibiting officials from making comments of a discriminatory nature based on race or ethnicity. Ross' comments are a blatant display of racism and only serve to entrench divides and create a culture of intolerance toward Gypsy and Travelling communities: 'Illegal and unauthorised gypsy traveller encampments are a significant problem with the settled community continually complaining that gypsy travellers receive preferential treatment'. Ross would only have to read the recently published 'Is Scotland Fairer' report to know that Gypsy and Travelling Communities are the most disenfranchised groups across all indicators and Ross' comments are irresponsible and only serve to further marginalise Gypsy and Travelling community members. Moreover, under the McPherson definition of racism, Show Racism the Red Card perceives Ross' comments to be racist. So while the SFA may not consider it to be a breach of Policy, we deem this to be a racist incident under the law. Similarly, Amnesty International and a number of organisations have contacted us regarding this along with concerned community members as they too perceive it to be a racist incident. To this end, just like all leaders, the SFA are in a position of power and its actions as an organisation set a precedent to communities throughout Scotland and we are disappointed that the SFA are not using its powers to set an example based on Rights respecting values and equality for all. Moreover, if the Conservative Party has recognised the need for Equality and Diversity training for Douglas Ross, the S.F.A. should take a stand too. In the same breath however, we do need to recognise all of the in-kind support that the SFA give our organisation but we feel in this instance, it is irresponsible to overlook Ross' divisive comments."

Source: STV

Brizio: “Women referees are not ready for Liga MX”

Arturo Brizio, the chairman of the FMF Referee Committee, admitted that the possibility of a woman refereeing a game of the MX League is far, because there is no one who can compete at that level and meet expectations. "At this moment I see it distant because it will be too complicated for our current women referees and the ones we have on the rise; we will need to find a woman athlete, because I insist is not a gender issue, but capacity", he said. He pointed out that "modern football requires an impressive physical preparation to compete at that level, which, at this time, our current women referees do not have. But the door will be open that if one or several girls with such abilities appear, to emulate what Vicky Tovar did in the First Division and Quetzalli Alvarado in the MX Ascenso", he said. Interviewed at the end of the forum "Football without discrimination", the leader stressed that the goal in the MX Women's League is that in the near future the games are only refereed by women. "It seems to me that the most logical thing is that the women’s games are refereed by women; it would be a minimum achievement for the women's league, which has been successful, to have the best female referees, that is my dream and my obligation", said Brizio.
Looking ahead to what will be the 2018 World Cup Russia, he hoped that the Mexican refereeing will have representation, something that will be known in November. "At the last meeting I had with people from FIFA, they spoke well of our three teams led by Roberto Garcia, Cesar Ramos and Fernando Guerrero". Arturo Brizio explained that "Mexico has three referees competing and that should be an honor; we support them. They referee as teams and in November we will have white smoke and hopefully at least a Mexican trio".

Source: Radio Formula

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 Qualifiers – UEFA (Matchday 2)

14-19 September 2017

Faroe Islands – Czech Republic
Referee: Simona Ghisletta (SUI, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Susann Küng (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Emilie Aubry (SUI)
Fourth Official: Sandra Strub (SUI)

Albania – Switzerland
Referee: Amy Rayner (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Sian Massey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Natalie Aspinall (ENG)
Fourth Official: Emanuela Rusta (ALB)

Norway – Northern Ireland
Referee: Olga Zadinová (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Lucie Ratajová (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Nikol Šafránková (CZE)
Fourth Official: Elisabeth Thoresen (NOR)

Poland – Belarus
Referee: Tanja Subotič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Helena Buh (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Staša Špur (SVN)
Fourth Official: Katarzyna Wojs (POL)

Ukraine – Croatia
Referee: Florence Guillemin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Solenne Bartnik (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Elodie Coppola (FRA)
Fourth Official: Oleksandra Vdovina (UKR)

Italy – Moldova
Referee: Zuzana Kováčová (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Slavomira Majkuthová (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Miroslava Pastoreková (SVK)
Fourth Official: Lucia Abruzzese (ITA)

Germany –Slovenia
Referee: Volha Tsiareshka (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Alena Karas (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Anna Ilyankova (BLR)
Fourth Official: Christine Weigelt (GER)

Kazakhstan – Wales
Referee: Ruzanna Petrosyan (ARM)
Assistant Referee 1: Hasmik Gharibyan (ARM)
Assistant Referee 2: Liana Grigoryan (ARM)
Fourth Official: Kristina Yanushkevich (KAZ)

Iceland – Faroe Islands
Referee: Sara Persson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Sandra Österberg (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Josefin Aronsson (SWE)
Fourth Official: Briet Bragadottir (ISL)

Romania – Italy
Referee: Monika Mularczyk (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Kinga Seniuk-Mikulska (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Katarzyna Wojs (POL)
Fourth Official: Catalina Nan (ROU)

Belarus – Albania
Referee: Paula Brady (IRL)
Assistant Referee 1: Michelle O'Neill (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Olivia Sneyd (IRL)
Fourth Official: Alena Karas (BLR)

Norway – Slovakia
Referee: Sofia Karagiorgi (CYP)
Assistant Referee 1: Polyxeni Irodotou (CYP)
Assistant Referee 2: Dora Myrianthea (CYP)
Fourth Official: Elisabeth Thoresen (NOR)

Czech Republic – Germany
Referee: Marta Huerta De Aza (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Rocio Puente Pino (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Belinda Castilla Mesa (ESP)
Fourth Official: Zuzana Špindlerová (CZE)

Hungary – Denmark
Referee: Ewa Augustin (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Anna Dabrowska (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Katarzyna Wasiak (POL)
Fourth Official: Brigitta Makkosne Petz (HUN)

Croatia – Sweden
Referee: Eleni Lampadariou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Panagiota Koutsoumpou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Sofia Athanasopoulou (GRE)
Fourth Official: Maja Petravic (CRO)

Switzerland – Poland
Referee: Eleni Antoniou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Chrysoula Kourompylia (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Georgia Komisopoulou (GRE)
Fourth Official: Susann Küng (SUI)

England – Russia
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Katrin Rafalski (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Christina Biehl (GER)
Fourth Official: Lindsey Robinson (ENG)

Serbia – Austria
Referee: Sandra Braz Bastos (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Cátia Tavares (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Teresa Oliveira (POR)
Fourth Official: Svetlana Bilić (SRB)

Belgium – Moldova
Referee: Ezther Urban (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Judit Kulcsár (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Katalin Török (HUN)
Fourth Official: Viki De Cremer (BEL)

Northern Ireland – Ireland
Referee: Vesna Budimir (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Sanja Rodjak Karšić (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Gordana Katušic (CRO)
Fourth Official: Vikki Allan (SCO)

Libya demands World Cup replay after referee’s wife is found to be Tunisian

The Libyan Football Federation has reportedly demanded that FIFA order and replay of their World Cup qualifier against Tunisia as the Kenyan referee Davies Omweno (photo) who officiated the game is married to a Tunisian woman.
According to a report in the English-language Libya Observer, “The Libyan Football Federation lodged a request to the sports court of the FIFA asking for a rematch with the Tunisian team as part of the second round of the World Cup qualifiers, as the Kenyan referee was proved to be married to a Tunisian woman and is living in there”. The refereeing of the match, held on 11 November 2016, was controversial, with an early Libyan goal being wrongly disallowed for off-side, the Libyan captain being sent off early in the second half and the Tunisians scoring the winner from the penalty spot. Libya’s coach, Jalal Damja blamed the loss on “poor officiating”. Both the referee, Davies Omweno (who is considered the best referee in Kenya) and his assistant Berhe O’Michael from Eritrea, were handed three-month suspensions by CAF following the match. The CAF referees committee cited poor performance, wrong positioning and movement, incorrect identification of fouls and failure to administer some disciplinary sanctions as the reasons for Omweno’s suspension. O’Michael was found guilty of poor performance in identifying offside decisions including one that denied Libya a valid goal. In the aftermath, Omweno received less than fulsome support from Kenyan referees chief GMT Ottieno who said it is always a difficult assignment for Kenyan referees in the ‘Arab world’ and that “If Omweno is guilty of the said offences, then he only has himself to blame”. In defence of Omweno, Ottieno added, “However, it is always good to understand that officiating in the Arab world is so tempting in terms of bribes and if one fails to accept them, life will never be the same”.
Referee bias towards players of one’s own nationality has been well documented by research into UEFA Champions League football where it has been found players officiated by a referee of the same nationality receive a 10% uplift in beneficial foul calls. This percentage rises for national team players and in the later stages of a tournament. However, there has been no research done on the influence of referee’s wives. Common sense indicates that the degree of influence would be dependent on the state of the marital relationship, and it is obviously possible to imagine circumstances in which the wife could exert a decisive influence. 

UEFA Europa League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

14 September 2017

Austria Wien – AC Milan
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Dave Goossens (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Bas Van Dongen (NED)
Additional AR 1: Dennis Higler (NED)
Additional AR 2: Jeroen Manschot (NED)
Fourth Official: Jan De Vries (NED)
Referee Observer: Nikolai Levnikov (RUS)

Villarreal – Astana
Referee: Srdjan Jovanović (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Uroš Stojković (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Milan Mihajlović (SRB)
Additional AR 1: Lazar Lukić (SRB)
Additional AR 2: Zoran Siroki (SRB)
Fourth Official: Bojan Banović (SRB)
Referee Observer: Domenico Messina (ITA)

Slavia Praha – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Markus Gutschi (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Roland Riedel (AUT)
Additional AR 1: Manuel Schüttengruber (AUT)
Additional AR 2: Rene Eisner (AUT)
Fourth Official: Andreas Witschnigg (AUT)
Referee Observer: Kristinn Jakobsson (ISL)

Dynamo Kyiv – Skënderbeu
Referee: Bart Vertenten (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Rien Vanyzere (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Thibaud Nijssen (BEL)
Additional AR 1: Wim Smet (BEL)
Additional AR 2: Nathan Verboomen (BEL)
Fourth Official: Frédéric Godelaine (BEL)
Referee Observer: Marcin Borski (POL)

Young Boys – Partizan
Referee: István Kovács (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vasile Marinescu (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mihai Artene (ROU)
Additional AR 1: Marius Avram (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Horatiu Fesnic (ROU)
Fourth Official: Alexandru Cerei (ROU)
Referee Observer: Iain Robertson Brines (SCO)

Hoffenheim – Sporting Braga
Referee: Robert Madden (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: David McGeachie (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alastair Mather (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Kevin Clancy (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Greg Aitken (SCO)
Fourth Official: Francis Connor (SCO)
Referee Observer: Sokol Jareci (ALB)

İstanbul Başakşehir – Ludogorets
Referee: Stefan Johannesson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Fredrik Nilsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Magnus Sjöblom (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Kristoffer Karlsson (SWE)
Fourth Official: Joakim Nilsson (SWE)
Referee Observer: Goran Mihaljević (MNE)

HNK Rijeka – AEK Athens
Referee: John Beaton (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas Potter (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Sean Carr (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Alan Muir (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Euan Anderson (SCO)
Fourth Official: Stuart Stevenson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Luc Wilmes (LUX)

Atalanta – Everton
Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Valeri Danchenko (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Maksim Gavrilin (RUS)
Additional AR 1: Kirill Levnikov (RUS)
Additional AR 2: Igor Fedotov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Aleksei Lunev (RUS)
Referee Observer: Miroslav Liba (CZE)

Apollon Limassol – Olympique Lyonnais
Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Ondřej Pelikán (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Paták (CZE)
Additional AR 1: Radek Příhoda (CZE)
Additional AR 2: Jan Jilek (CZE)
Fourth Official: Petr Blažej (CZE)
Referee Observer: Rodger Gifford (WAL)

FC København – Lokomotiv Moskva
Referee: Hüseyin Göçek (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Mustafa Eyisoy (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Kemal Yilmaz (TUR)
Additional AR 1: Mete Kalkavan (TUR)
Additional AR 2: Arda Kardeşler (TUR)
Fourth Official: Serkan Ok (TUR)
Referee Observer: Stephen Lodge (ENG)

Fastav Zlín – Sheriff Tiraspol
Referee: Andrew Dallas (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Graeme Stewart (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Donald Robertson (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Nicholas Walsh (SCO)
Fourth Official: Joseph Lawson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Sándor Piller (HUN)

Hapoel Beer Sheva – FC Lugano
Referee: Tony Chapron (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Cyril Mugnier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Bertrand Jouannaud (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Frank Schneider (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Karim Abed (FRA)
Fourth Official: Eric Danizan (FRA)
Referee Observer: Ioannis Tsachilidis (GRE)

FCSB – Viktoria Plzeň
Referee: Andris Treimanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Haralds Gudermanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksejs Spasjonnikovs (LVA)
Additional AR 1: Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA)
Additional AR 2: Edgars Malcevs (LVA)
Fourth Official: Raimonds Tatriks (LVA)
Referee Observer: Asim Khudiyev (AZE)

Arsenal – FC Köln
Referee: Javier Estrada Fernández (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Miguel Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Teodoro Sobrino Magán (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Jesús Gil Manzano (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP)
Fourth Official: Pau Cebrián Devís (ESP)
Referee Observer: Kaj Natri (FIN)

Crvena Zvezda – Bate Borisov

Referee: Yevhen Aranovskiy (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Oleksandr Voytyuk (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Serhiy Bekker (UKR)
Additional AR 1: Serhiy Boiko (UKR)
Additional AR 2: Anatoliy Abdula (UKR)
Fourth Official: Semen Shlonchak (UKR)
Referee Observer: Miroslav Tulinger (CZE)

Olympique de Marseille – Konyaspor
Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytautas Šimkus (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Vytenis Kazlauskas (LTU)
Additional AR 1: Donatas Rumšas (LTU)
Additional AR 2: Robertas Valikonis (LTU)
Fourth Official: Dovydas Sužiedėlis (LTU)
Referee Observer: Miroslav Vitković (CRO)

Vitória SC – FC Salzburg
Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (AZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Zeynal Zeynalov (AZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Rza Mammadov (AZE)
Additional AR 1: Rahim Hasanov (AZE)
Additional AR 2: Orkhan Mammadov (AZE)
Fourth Official: Mubariz Hashimov (AZE)
Referee Observer: Laurent Duhamel (FRA)

Hertha BSC – Athletic Club

Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1:Martin Balko (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomaš Somolani (SVK)
Additional AR 1: Filip Glova (SVK)
Additional AR 2: Mário Vlk (SVK)
Fourth Official: Tomaš Mokoš (SVK)
Referee Observer: László Vagner (HUN)

Zorya – Östersunds
Referee: Stephan Klossner (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Remy Zgraggen (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Marco Zürcher (SUI)
Additional AR 1: Alain Bieri (SUI)
Additional AR 2: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
Fourth Official: Jan Köbeli (SUI)
Referee Observer: Fritz Stuchlik (AUT)

Vitesse – Lazio
Referee: Liran Liany (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: David Biton (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dvir Shimon (ISR)
Additional AR 1: Erez Papir (ISR)
Additional AR 2: Menashe Masiah (SR)
Fourth Official: Idan Yarkoni (ISR)
Referee Observer: Manuel Mejuto González (ESP)

Zulte Waregem – OGC Nice
Referee: Ali Palabıyık (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Çem Satman (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Serkan Olguncan (TUR)
Additional AR 1: Halil Meler (TUR)
Additional AR 2: Serkan Tokat (TUR)
Fourth Official: Kerem Ersoy (TUR)
Referee Observer: Herbert Fandel (GER)

Real Sociedad – Rosenborg
Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Fabiano Preti (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Matteo Passeri (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Marco Guida (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Marco Di Bello (ITA)
Fourth Official: Giorgio Peretti (ITA)
Referee Observer: Karen Nalbandyan (ARM)

Vardar – Zenit
Referee: Jakob Kehlet (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Henrik Larsen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Heine Sørensen (DEN)
Additional AR 1: Michael Tykgaard (DEN)
Additional AR 2: Jens Maee (DEN)
Fourth Official: Lars Rix (DEN)
Referee Observer: René Temmink (NED)

Silvia Regina: First woman referee in a top men’s division (2003)

Last weekend, Bibiana Steinhaus (Germany) and Lorraine Wilson (Scotland) made their debut as the first female referees in their country’s top division. However, the very first woman referee appointed to a men’s match in the highest national division was Silvia Regina de Oliveira, 14 years ago, in Brazil.
Silvia Regina de Oliveira, former FIFA referee, arrived in the first division of the Brazilian Championship in 2003, debuting with a female trio in the match between Guarani and São Paulo, assisted by Ana Paula de Oliveira and Aline Lambert. It was a historical day for the Brazilian and international refereeing. She made important appearances and remained at the highest level until 2005, including a classic match between Sao Paulo and Corinthians, played in front of a huge crowd at the Morumbi stadium. A success never achieved by another woman in the country. Silvia participated in the Olympic Games and currently she is a FIFA Referee Instructor, working in the Referee Department of the Paulista Football Federation (Brazil).

Source: Refnews

Copa Libertadores – Quarter-finals

First Leg, 13-14 September 2017

San Lorenzo – Lanús
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (COL, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Alexander Leon (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Dionisio Ruiz (COL)
Fourth Official: Andres Rojas (COL)
Referee Assessor: Ana Paula Oliveira (BRA)

Barcelona – Santos
Referee: Daniel Fedorczuk (URU)
Assistant Referee 1: Richard Trinidad (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Gabriel Popovits (URU)
Fourth Official: Esteban Ostojich (URU)
Referee Assessor: Claudio Puga (CHI)

Botafogo – Grêmio
Referee: Jose Argote (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Murillo (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Lopez (VEN)
Fourth Official: Alexis Herrera (VEN)
Referee Assessor: Joel Ruiz (PAR)

Jorge Wilstermann – River Plate
Referee: Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Emerson De Carvalho (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Dewson Freitas (BRA)
Referee Assessor: Carlos Herrera (ECU)


Second Leg, 20-21 September 2017

Santos – Barcelona
Referee: Victor Carrillo (PER)
Assistant Referee 1: Raul Lopez (PER)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Raez (PER)
Fourth Official: Henry Gambetta (PER)
Referee Assessor: Paulo Silva (ARG)

Grêmio – Botafogo
Referee: Patricio Loustau (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Belatti (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ezequiel Brailovsky (ARG)
Fourth Official: Jorge Baliño (ARG)
Referee Assessor: Roberto Silvera (URU)

River Plate – Jorge Wilstermann
Referee: Roberto Tobar (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Raul Orellana (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Astroza (CHI)
Fourth Official: Patricio Polic (CHI)
Referee Assessor: Victor Rivera (PER)

Lanús – San Lorenzo
Referee: Enrique Cáceres (PAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Eduardo Cardozo (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Zorrilla (PAR)
Fourth Official: Julio Quintana (PAR)
Referee Assessor: Jose Buitrago (COL)

UEFA Youth League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

12 September 2017
Celtic FC – Paris SG
Referee: Alexander Harkam (AUT, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Roland Brandner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Kühr (AUT)
Fourth Official: Barry Cook (SCO)
Referee Observer: Edward Foley (IRL)

SL Benfica – CSKA Moskva

Referee: Petr Ardeleánu (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Jakub Hrabovský (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomáš Mokrusch (CZE)
Fourth Official: Rui Piteira Rodrigues (POR)
Referee Observer: Nuno Castro (POR)

Manchester United – Basel
Referee: Keith Kennedy (NIR)
Assistant Referee 1: Georgios Argyropoulos (NIR)
Assistant Referee 2: Ryan Kelsey (NIR)
Fourth Official: Anthony Backhouse (ENG)
Referee Observer: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

Bayern München – RSC Anderlecht
Referee: Mykola Balakin (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Viktor Matyash (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Valentyn Kutsev (UKR)
Fourth Official: Florian Badstübner (GER)
Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn (GER)

Chelsea – Qarabag
Referee: Robert Hennessy (IRL)
Assistant Referee 1: Darragh Keegan (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Darren Carey (IRL)
Fourth Official: John Busby (ENG)
Referee Observer: Peter Jones (ENG)

AS Roma – Atlético de Madrid
Referee: Rade Obrenovič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Grega Kordež (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomislav Pospeh (SVN)
Fourth Official: Alessandro Di Paolo (ITA)
Referee Observer: Matteo Trefoloni (ITA)

FC Barcelona – Juventus

Referee: Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Henrik Sønderby (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Ole Kronlykke (DEN)
Fourth Official: David Medié Jiménez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Luis Medina Cantalejo (ESP)

Olympiakós – Sporting
Referee: Alan Sant (MLT)
Assistant Referee 1: Mitchell Scerri (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Duncan Sultana (MLT)
Fourth Official: Aristotelis Diamantopoulos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Stavros Tritsonis (GRE)

13 September 2017
NK Maribor – Spartak Moskva
Referee: Ferenc Karakó (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Balázs Szert (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Gergő Vígh-Tarsonyi (HUN)
Fourth Official: Marko Lackovič (SVN)
Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin (SVN)

Liverpool – Sevilla

Referee: Thorvaldur Árnason (ISL)
Assistant Referee 1: Birkir Sigurdarson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 2: Andri Vigfússon (ISL)
Fourth Official: Scott Oldham (ENG)
Referee Observer: Brian Lawlor (WAL)

Shakhtar Donetsk – SSC Napoli
Referee: Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Romāns Platonovs (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksejs Griščenko (LVA)
Fourth Official: Vitaliy Romanov (UKR)
Referee Observer: Volodymyr Petrov (UKR)

Feyenoord Rotterdam – Manchester City

Referee: Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Fredrik Klyver (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Mahbod Beigi (SWE)
Fourth Official: Siemen Mulder (NED)
Referee Observer: Marinus Koopman (NED)

RB Leipzig – AS Monaco
Referee: Krzysztof Jakubik (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Kamil Wójcik (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Bartosz Heinig (POL)
Fourth Official: Alexander Sather (GER)
Referee Observer: Helmut Fleischer (GER)

FC Porto – Beşiktaş JK
Referee: Adrien Jaccottet (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Vital Jobin (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Sertac Kurnazca (SUI)
Fourth Official: João Borlido Matos (POR)
Referee Observer: Lucílio Cardoso (POR)

Real Madrid – Apoel
Referee: Laurent Kopriwa (LUX)
Assistant Referee 1: Claude Ries (LUX)
Assistant Referee 2: Joaquim Da Silva (LUX)
Fourth Official: Valentín Pizarro Gómez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Juan Fernández Marín (ESP)

Tottenham Hotspur – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Bryn Markham-Jones (WAL)
Assistant Referee 1: Harry Hendricks (WAL)
Assistant Referee 2: Ashley Davis (WAL)
Fourth Official: John Brooks (ENG)
Referee Observer: Gerard Perry (IRL)

UEFA Champions League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

12 September 2017
FC Barcelona – Juventus
Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Jure Praprotnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Robert Vukan (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Matej Jug (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Slavko Vinčič (SVN)
Fourth Official: Tomaž Klančnik (SVN)
Referee Observer: Eugen Strigel (GER)

Manchester United – FC Basel
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Guillaume Debart (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Frédéric Cano (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Amaury Delerue (FRA)
Additional AR 2: François Letexier (FRA)
Fourth Official: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Referee Observer: Alfredo Trentalange (ITA)

SL Benfica – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Alonso Fernández (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Yuste Jiménez (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP)
Additional AR 2: José Sánchez Martínez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Roberto Díaz Pérez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Guy Goethals (BEL)

Bayern München – RSC Anderlecht
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alessandro Costanzo (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Daniele Doveri (ITA)
Fourth Official: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)
Referee Observer: Oguz Sarvan (TUR)

Celtic FC – Paris SG
Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Riccardo Di Fiore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Davide Massa (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Antonio Damato (ITA)
Fourth Official: Andrea Crispo (ITA)
Referee Observer: Terje Hauge (NOR)

Chelsea – Qarabag

Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Polychronis Kostaras (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Lazaros Dimitriadis (GRE)
Additional AR 1: Charalambos Kalogeropoulos (GRE)
Additional AR 2: Alexandros Aretopoulos (GRE)
Fourth Official: Damianos Efthimiadis (GRE)
Referee Observer: Paulius Malžinskas (LTU)

AS Roma – Atlético de Madrid
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)
Additional AR 1: Nenad Djokić (SRB)
Additional AR 2: Danilo Grujić (SRB)
Fourth Official: Nemanja Petrović (SRB)
Referee Observer: Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)

Olympiacos – Sporting
Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: György Ring (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Vencel Tóth (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Tamás Bognár (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Sándor Szabó (HUN)
Fourth Official: Peter Berettyán (HUN)
Referee Observer: Luciano Luci (ITA)

13 September 2017
Liverpool – Sevilla
Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Mario Diks (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Hessel Steegstra (NED)
Additional AR 1: Kevin Blom (NED)
Additional AR 2: Jochem Kamphuis (NED)
Fourth Official: Joost Van Zuilen (NED)
Referee Observer: Peter Fröjdfeldt (SWE)

NK Maribor – Spartak Moskva
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Guido Kleve (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Mark Borsch (GER)
Additional AR 1: Marco Fritz (GER)
Additional AR 2: Benjamin Brand (GER)
Fourth Official: Eduard Beitinger (GER)
Referee Observer: Georgios Bikas (GRE)

Feyenoord – Manchester City
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Paweł Sokolnicki (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Additional AR 1: Paweł Raczkowski (POL)
Additional AR 2: Tomasz Musiał (POL)
Fourth Official: Radosław Siejka (POL)
Referee Observer: William Young (SCO)

Shakhtar Donetsk – SSC Napoli
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Thorsten Schiffner (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Marco Achmüller (GER)
Additional AR 1: Daniel Siebert (GER)
Additional AR 2: Sascha Stegemann (GER)
Fourth Official: Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Referee Observer: Costas Kapitanis (CYP)

RB Leipzig – AS Monaco
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Bennett (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Andre Marriner (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Robert Madley (ENG)
Fourth Official: Harry Lennard (ENG)
Referee Observer: Jaap Uilenberg (NED)

FC Porto – Beşiktaş JK
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Jonathan Moss (ENG)
Fourth Official: Constantine Hatzidakis (ENG)
Referee Observer: Lutz Fröhlich (GER)

Real Madrid – Apoel FC
Referee: Benoît Bastien (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Hicham Zakrani (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Frédéric Haquette (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Benoît Millot (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Jérôme Miguelgorry (FRA)
Fourth Official: Julien Pacelli (FRA)
Referee Observer: Bo Karlsson (SWE)

Tottenham Hotspur – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)
Additional AR1: Luca Banti (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
Fourth Official: Alberto Tegoni (ITA)
Referee Observer: Michel Piraux (BEL)

Steinhaus to make Bundesliga history

It is confirmed: FIFA referee Bibiana Steinhaus will be the first woman to referee a Bundesliga match. The 38-year-old ex-policewoman from Hanover will oversee the match between Hertha BSC and SV Werder Bremen, on Sunday, in Berlin. Christof Günsch and Thomas Stein will be her assistants for the game, while the fourth official will be Robert Schröder and Harm Osmers will be the VAR.
The German football federation announced that the 38-year-old police officer is to take charge of Hertha Berlin's home game against Werder Bremen, confirming her place among the league's elite group of 24 referees. "She deserves it through her great performances," Bremen coach Alexander Nouri said. Hoffenheim's Julian Nagelsmann added, "I'm happy. It's all the same to me if a man or a woman is refereeing - the main thing is that they do the job well." Steinhaus has already spent a decade refereeing in Germany's second division and she has plenty of experience with many of the country's top stars from taking charge of German Cup games, too. Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has already showed she may be treated differently to her male colleagues when he played a trick on her during the side's cup tie at Chemnitzer FC in August. Ribery untied one of her bootlaces as he pretended to put the ball in place for a free kick. Steinhaus passed it off by giving Ribery a couple of playful punches in response, but it is debatable whether the French forward would have attempted the same trick had he been dealing with a male referee.
The daughter of a referee, Steinhaus began by officiating women's games for the DFB in 1999. She then became a FIFA referee in 2005 and earned her place in the second division in 2007, as the first female referee in German professional football. Steinhaus has handled women's World Cups and European Championships, along with the 2012 Olympic women's final between the United States and Japan. Last June, she took charge of the women's Champions League final between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. The former swimmer will become the first female referee in any of Europe’s top five leagues and has worked with a fitness coach to make sure she can cope with the tempo of the Bundesliga. Steinhaus was in the headlines last year when it emerged she was in a relationship with former top referee Howard Webb. But she does not see herself as a trailblazer. “I never planned to break new grounds of emancipation,” she said at a referee’s training camp in July. “I am only doing what I love”. However, the 38-year-old police officer hopes to stay out of the headlines. “I don’t want any, then everything will have gone well”, she said in an interview before her appointment was announced. “My anticipation for the first game in the Bundesliga is, of course, huge”, said Steinhaus. “I am delighted that this great challenge, for my team and I, will finally get going,” she added having sat out the first two rounds of German league games this season. Male players have mostly treated Steinhaus with respect, but any incidents involving her receive greater attention. Defender Peter Niemeyer, who was playing for Hertha at the time, accidentally swiped her breast when he meant to pat her on the shoulder during a game in 2010. In 2015, after Steinhaus sent off Kerem Demirbay, the then-Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder reportedly told her: “Women have no place in men's football”, Demirbay was roundly criticized for the remark and handed a three-game ban with two further games suspended. Dusseldorf also made Demirbay referee a girls' game to ensure he understood the message. Demirbay apologized both publicly and to Steinhaus directly for his comment, and said he was "very happy that she accepted my apology". The two will likely meet again this season if Steinhaus takes charge of any games involving his current club, Hoffenheim.

Source: AP

Derrien – Layec: Refereeing in court

These two former top referees were not always enemies. When they were 20 years old, at the end of the 80s, Bruno Derrien and Bertrand Layec appreciated each other to the point of spending weekends together. The two young referees, born at 15 months apart in the mid-1960s, one (Derrien) in Brest, the other (Layec) in Vannes, formed a group of friends, together with other brilliant referees, such as Améziane Khendek and Stéphane Bré. They were old friends, but their friendship turned into vinegar. And when a war broke out in the French refereeing in the early 2000s, the two former friends, promoted in the meantime in D1, did not play on the same team. Bertrand Layec, manager of the French referees since July 2009 and number 2 of the French Refereeing Department (DNA) led by Marc Batta, incarnates the power in place. Bruno Derrien, who bitterly left the refereeing in 2007, a year after being relegated to L2, represents the devil personified for the DNA. In the media to which he collaborates regularly or in the book “A bas l’arbitre!” published in January 2009, he fired red balls on the referees. The publication of this book, in which Bertrand Layec was mentioned in the column "those whom I do not thank", and where many former colleagues are attacked under the belt, provoked the ire of many referees and at least two strong reactions: an action in defamation by Marc Batta that was rejected by the court and an anonymous letter against Derrien. Bertrand Layec was accused in 2009 of having sent an abusive e-mail about Bruno Derrien to more than 100 recipients, from his professional e-mail address. The investigation revealed that the anonymous letter had been circulated on a large scale within the refereeing community from a computer to which only Bertrand Layec and the league secretary had access.
Two days after the publication of the book “A bas l’arbitre!”, Matthieu Rabby, administrative assistant at the DNA, wrote at night the e-mail incriminated and sent it, anonymously, from the address he created "merci-derrien@yahoo.fr" to the L'Equipe magazine under the title "Right of reply". In two pages, Matthieu Rabby insulted the ex-referee. "If you retired in the anonymity and vulgarity of an L2 match, it was probably because you deserved nothing else”, one could read in the letter attributed to Matthew Rabby. On March 26, Bertrand Layec had transferred the anonymous mail to 126 contacts from his address book, inviting his interlocutors to do the same, thus creating a cascading reaction and making a large publicity to the letter of insult. Allegedly signed by "a good hundred injured people", the e-mail was also sent in copy to the leaders of the FFF. "A spontaneous reflex", he said in court, "a way of responding to this book and Bruno Derrien's provocations in the media". I was a referee, it was a personal referee's suffering. "This wide distribution gave an incredible publicity to the letter and even caused, according to Bruno Derrien, the loss of his job at the communication service of the French Poste, partner of the referees’ organization. Bruno Derrien's lawyer denounced the "method" used by Matthieu Rabby and then Bertrand Layec to answer to the book: "The civilized method is to address the concerns with the court when one is targeted in a book", as DNA's boss Marc Batta did, and his complaint was rejected in December 2009. The defendants pleaded the response to the "provocation" contained in Bruno Derrien's book. Layec’s lawyer asked the court not to be "influenced in this settlement of accounts", stating that the publicity around the letter was the act of the victim himself, "who widely circulated it to the press".
Bertrand Layec received a 500 euro suspended sentence and was ordered to pay 1,000 euro of damages to the plaintiff. Mathieu Rabby received a 1,000 euro suspended sentence, in addition to 2,000 euro in damages. "I am particularly pleased with the decision that puts an end to a case where I was the victim and deeply hurt. I hope that the French refereeing will regain its serenity before Euro 2012", said Derrien when the sentence was announced.

CONCACAF: PORE Certification Course

Following the introductory course held in February, the certification part of the Program of Refereeing Excellence (PORE) is taking place from 4 to 27 September 2017 in Mexico. The 13 referees who participate in this program will work in double sessions at the FMF facilities, in addition to nutrition talks, psychology and English classes, all under the supervision of Brian Hall, CONCACAF Director of Refereeing and Shamsul Maidin, AFC Director of Referees. During this training period, the referees may be appointed at Mexican tournament matches in the U-20 and U-17 categories.
"This course is very important for us and the Member Associations because it is an opportunity for referee talents to learn from FIFA instructors in a very professional environment, with the assistance of the Mexican Football Federation. This is a great opportunity to work and educate, to prepare referees so that in the future they participate in FIFA competitions and when they return to their country of origin they have an opportunity to contribute more strongly in their associations", said Hall. "It is a certification course, the referees will return to their countries with new ideas and ways to handle the games, and with a professional mentality, because in CONCACAF now we work on changing the way of thinking of referees, since we need a new attitude, new ways of working and a different thinking. For this reason, the results of this program is to change the way of refereeing the games, with a professional mentality, as modern referees, with new working tools. All referees have one or two games and it is an opportunity for the instructors to see their work on the field; after the match they will be able to analyze on video the activity of each one of them. Also, many of them, do not have the opportunity of video review in their country, since there are no videos or matches on television and is very important, because they need to look at their decisions, their personality, body language and that helps change their skills, in addition to the experience of handling the game, since in the Caribbean players play differently than the United States or other countries”. Brian Hall also commented that a referee comes from the Asian Confederation. "Jaime Herrera will manage this program for the referees and we also have a FIFA instructor, in addition to having an exchange with Asia and the United Arab Emirates, which is the first time it has taken place. It is very important, as it is an opportunity in the future that a CONCACAF referee will go to Asia and can participate in a course, referee some game and that will help them to improve in their career". Finally, Brian Hall gave his point of view regarding the refereeing in the region: "The CONCACAF referees work hard both on and off the pitch. I am very happy with this group, as it is a very close family, we continue with a very strong job because we are looking for excellence in everything. The results of the referees in the Gold Cup were very high and, in the opinion of many people, it has been the best competition on the subject of refereeing”.


Participants
1. Edgar Rangel (MEX)
2. Steven Madrigal (CRC)
3. Hector Salazar (SLV)
4. Erick Lezama (NCA)
5. Modesto Hierrezuelo (CUB)
6. Jose Torres (PUR)
7. Oshane Nation (JAM)
8. Ivan Barton (SLV)
9. Reon Radix (GRN)
10. Nikolai Nyron (TRI)
11. Oliver Vergara (PAN)
12. Jamar Springer (BRB)
13. Rubiel Vazquez (USA)

Guest referee (AFC)
Ahmed Darwish (UAE)

Source: FMF