UEFA Futsal Euro 2018

Slovenia, 30 January – 10 February 2018

Referees

1. Sasa Tomic (CRO, 1975, photo)
2. Ondrej Cerny (CZE, 1979)
3. Marc Birkett (ENG, 1978)
4. Juan Cordero Gallardo (ESP, 1978)
5. Alejandro Martinez Flores (ESP, 1977)
6. Timo Onatsu (FIN, 1973)
7. Cedric Pelissier (FRA, 1976)
8. Balazs Farkas (HUN, 1975)
9. Gabor Kovacs (HUN, 1978)
10. Angelo Galante (ITA, 1975)
11. Alessandro Malfer (ITA, 1975)
12. Eduardo Fernandes Coelho (POR, 1979)
13. Bogdan Sorescu (ROU, 1974)
14. Vladimir Kadykov (RUS, 1984)
15. Admir Zahovic (SVN, 1982)
16. Kamil Cetin (TUR, 1984)

Reserve Referees
1. Vasileios Christodoulis (GRE, 1977)
2. Josip Barton (MKD, 1977)

Referee Observers/Instructors
1. Pedro Galan (ESP)
2. Perry Gautier (BEL)
3. Massimo Cumbo (ITA)
4. Ivan Novak (CRO)

Revised list of candidate referee trios for FIFA Women's World Cup 2019

The road to the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 is proceeding with great strides for the teams aiming to qualify, but also for the match officials. FIFA, in cooperation with the confederations, recently developed a revised list of 35 referee and 69 assistant referee candidates – representing all six confederations and 56 countries – for the biggest tournament in women’s football. The list of candidates takes into account several qualities, including game performances, football understanding and fitness, and for the first time at this stage of preparations for the Women’s World Cup, FIFA is announcing referee trios. This allows the referees to prepare as a team throughout the build-up to the tournament, and thus helps to improve overall performances. "This is an incredibly important step forward", Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Head of Refereeing, explained. "It’s a further marker in the three-year process that started last year. In 2018, we expect to see improvement from candidates in terms of their fitness, technical knowledge and football understanding. We'll be testing them throughout the year and then selecting the best”. Former elite referee and FIFA’s Senior Manager of Refereeing Kari Seitz underlined the importance of the preparation for the selected match officials. “FIFA takes the development of all FIFA officials, male and female, very seriously. Only a limited number of match officials will be selected to officiate in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and selection will be based 100 per cent on quality”. The Women's World Cup will have "informal" trios, with an understanding that all trios are flexible. (Source: FIFA)

AFC
Referee: Kate Jacewicz (AUS, 1985, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Renae Coghill (AUS, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Uvena Fernandes (IND, 1981)

Referee: Oh Hyeon Jeong (KOR, 1988)
Assistant Referee 1: Maiko Hagio (JPN, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Bao Mengxiao (CHN, 1988)

Referee: Qin Liang (CHN, 1979)
Assistant Referee 1: Fang Yan (CHN, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Kim Kyoung Min (KOR, 1980)

Referee: Casey Reibelt (AUS, 1988)
Assistant Referee 1: Lee Seul Gi (KOR, 1980)
Assistant Referee 2: Troung Thi Le Trinh (VIE, 1984)

Referee: Ri Hyang Ok (PRK, 1977)
Assistant Referee 1: Hong Kum Nyo (PRK, 1973)
Assistant Referee 2: Cui Yongmei (CHN, 1979)

Referee: Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN, 1986)
Assistant Referee 1: Naomi Teshirogi (JPN, 1980)
Assistant Referee 2: Makoto Bozono (JPN, 1980)

CAF
Referee: Lidya Tafesse Abebe (ETH, 1980)
Assistant Referee 1: Queency Victoire (MRI, 1987)
Assistant Referee 2: Mary Njoroge (KEN, 1985)

Referee: Jonesia Kabakama (TAN, 1989)
Assistant Referee 1: Fanta Kone (MLI, 1990)
Assistant Referee 2: Botsalo Mosimanewatlala (BOT, 1981)

Referee: Gladys Lengwe (ZAM, 1978)
Assistant Referee 1: Bernadettar Kwimbira (MWI, 1981)
Assistant Referee 2: Lidwine Rakotozafinoro (MAD, 1978)

Referee: Salima Mukansanga (RWA, 1988)
Assistant Referee 1: Josiane Mbakop (CMR, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Bielignin Some (BFA, 1987

CONCACAF
Referee: Marianela Araya (CRC, 1988)
Assistant Referee 1: Kimberly Moreira (CRC, 1986)
Assistant Referee 2: Elizabeth Aguilar (SLV, 1987)

Referee: Marie-Soleil Beaudoin (CAN, 1982)
Assistant Referee 1: Stephanie Yee Sing (JAM, 1988)
Assistant Referee 2: Princess Brown (JAM, 1986)

Referee: Melissa Borjas (HON, 1986)
Assistant Referee 1: Shirley Perello (HON, 1986)
Assistant Referee 2: Yudilia Briones (MEX, 1986)

Referee: Carol Anne Chenard (CAN, 1977)
Assistant Referee 1: Kathryn Nesbitt (USA, 1988)
Assistant Referee 2: Chantal Boudreau (CAN, 1989)

Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva (USA, 1987)
Assistant Referee 1: Felisha Mariscal (USA, 1982)
Assistant Referee 2: Deleana Quan (USA, 1984)

Referee: Lucila Venegas (MEX, 1981)
Assistant Referee 1: Mayte Chavez (MEX, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Enedina Caudillo (MEX, 1984)

CONMEBOL
Referee: Edina Alves (BRA, 1980)
Assistant Referee 1: Neuza Back (BRA, 1984)
Assistant Referee 2: Tatiane Sacilotti (BRA, 1986)

Referee: Maria Carvajal (CHI, 1983)
Assistant Referee 1: Leslie Vasquez (CHI, 1987)
Assistant Referee 2: Loreto Toloza (CHI, 1984)

Referee: Laura Fortunato (ARG, 1985)
Assistant Referee 1: Mariana Almeida (ARG, 1982)
Assistant Referee 2: Maria Rocco (ARG, 1979)

Referee: Olga Miranda (PAR, 1982)
Assistant Referee 1: Nilda Gamarra (PAR, 1977)
Assistant Referee 2: Mary Blanco (COL, 1984)

Referee: Claudia Umpierrez (URU, 1983)
Assistant Referee 1: Luciana Mascarana (URU, 1981)
Assistant Referee 2: Monica Amboya (ECU, 1982)

OFC
Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley (NZL, 1982)
Assistant Referee 1: Sarah Jones (NZL, 1990)
Assistant Referee 2: Maria Salamasina (SAM, 1989)

Referee: Finau Vulivuli (FIJ, 1982)
Assistant Referee: Lata Kaumatule (TGA, 1985)

UEFA
Referee: Jana Adamkova (CZE, 1978)
Assistant Referee 1: Sanja Rodak (CRO, 1983)
Assistant Referee 2: Maria Sukenikova (SVK, 1975)

Referee: Sandra Braz (POR, 1978)
Assistant Referee 1: Rocio Puente Pino (ESP, 1983)
Assistant Referee 2: Lucia Abruzzese (ITA, 1976)

Referee: Stephanie Frappart (FRA, 1983)
Assistant Referee 1: Manuela Nicolosi (FRA, 1980)
Assistant Referee 2: Michelle O’Neill (IRL, 1978)

Referee: Riem Hussein (GER, 1980)
Assistant Referee 1: Kylie Cockburn (SCO, 1988)
Assistant Referee 2: Mihaela Tepusa (ROU, 1983)

Referee: Katalin Kulcsar (HUN, 1984)
Assistant Referee 1: Sian Massey (ENG, 1985)
Assistant Referee 2: Katalin Torok (HUN, 1985)

Referee: Kateryna Monzul (UKR, 1981)
Assistant Referee 1: Maryna Striletska (UKR, 1983)
Assistant Referee 2: Oleksandra Ardasheva (UKR, 1987)

Referee: Monika Mularczyk (POL, 1980)
Assistant Referee 1: Ekaterina Marinova (BUL, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Lisa Rashid (ENG, 1987)

Referee: Sara Persson (SWE, 1976)
Assistant Referee 1: Julia Magnusson (SWE, 1985)
Assistant Referee 2: Petruta Iugulescu (ROU, 1979)

Referee: Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS, 1981)
Assistant Referee 1: Ekaterina Kurochkina (RUS, 1986)
Assistant Referee 2: Nicolet Bakker (NED, 1984)

Referee: Esther Staubli (SUI, 1979)
Assistant Referee 1: Belinda Brem (SUI, 1987)
Assistant Referee 2: Susanne Kung (SUI, 1988)

Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (GER, 1979)
Assistant Referee 1: Katrin Rafalski (GER, 1982)
Assistant Referee 2: Chrysoula Kourompylia (GRE, 1977)

Referee: Olga Zadinova (CZE, 1985)
Assistant Referee 1: Lucie Ratajova (CZE, 1979)
Assistant Referee 2: Slavomira Miskova (SVK, 1979)

Referee Makkelie sanctioned by KNVB for taking loan from coach Uilenberg

The KNVB has taken disciplinary measures against referee Danny Makkelie. This is confirmed by a spokesperson for the football association following a report in De Telegraaf. The union does not want to say what the measures are. However, the KNVB has indicated that Makkelie will not referee any matches this weekend as a result of the commotion that has arisen.

The 34-year-old referee has been sanctioned because he borrowed a considerable amount of money from the former referee Jaap Uilenberg. He is a member in the UEFA Referees Committee and also acts as Makkelie’s referee coach. Makkelie needed that money to purchase a new home. "Research has shown that it was a risk-free, short-term loan that was repaid within two months", reports the KNVB. "There have been no illegal acts, but it goes without saying that the image of a dependency or preferential relationship between Makkelie and Uilenberg is highly undesirable. The KNVB considers integrity to be of paramount importance and has addressed both of them. The committee has taken disciplinary measures against Makkelie. The KNVB will tighten the rules of conduct in this area”. Uilenberg has no influence in the domestic appointment of referees, but is actively involved at the UEFA level. The KNVB discontinued his coaching relationship with Makkelie and reported the incident to UEFA. After refereeing the top match AZ - Ajax, Makkelie was removed from the Cup game PSV - Venlo and as VAR from Zwolle - NEC, and will not be appointed to any Eredivisie match this upcoming weekend.

"I have had the opportunity to buy a house that I have been looking for a long time and where I could live with my parents, which I value very much. We were able to sell our apartments quickly and with the financing I could also arrange it easily. I was offered the opportunity to use the short-term bridge until the notary releases of the surplus value for the renovation of our new home", said Makkelie. "This was a business loan that was made between Jaap Uilenberg and me, and of course friendship and trust also played a major role here - a relationship that we built-up alongside the coaching; it was a short-term loan that has already been repaid. I am really wondering: what is the problem? I have absolutely not seen the seriousness that is being displayed, the penalty that the KNVB imposes on me because of this bridging is in my opinion unjustified. As far as Peter van Dongen is concerned, he is careless in his remarks and ignores the interests of the referees by making statements in the media. There is already quite a number of colleagues who are no longer members of the BSBV because of a large degree of distrust and dissatisfaction". 

Source: AD / De Telegraaf

UEFA Referee Categories – second half of the season 2017/2018

Men

Elite

Martin Atkinson (ENG), Deniz Aytekin (GER), Felix Brych (GER), Cüneyt Cakir (TUR), William Collum (SCO), Jonas Eriksson (SWE), David Fernandez Borbalan (ESP), Ovidiu Hategan (ROU), Sergei Karasev (RUS), Viktor Kassai (HUN), Pavel Kralovec (CZE), Björn Kuipers (NED), Danny Makkelie (NED), Szymon Marciniak (POL), Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP), Milorad Mazic (SRB), Michael Oliver (ENG), Daniele Orsato (ITA), Gianluca Rocchi (ITA), Anastasios Sidiropoulos (GRE), Damir Skomina (SVN), Anthony Taylor (ENG), Clement Turpin (FRA), Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP), Felix Zwayer (GER).

First Category

Ievgenii Aranovskyi (UKR), Luca Banti (ITA), Benoît Bastien (FRA), John Beaton (SCO), Ivan Bebek (CRO), Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS), Kevin Blom (NED), Tamas Bognar (HUN), Sergii Boiko (UKR), Ruddy Buquet (FRA), Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP), Sebastien Delferiere (BEL), Oliver Drachta (AUT), Andreas Ekberg (SWE), Aleksei Eskov (RUS), Javier Estrada Fernandez (ESP), Simon Evans (WAL), Mattias Gestranius (FIN), Pawel Gil (POL), Jesus Gil Manzano (ESP), Hüseyin Göcek (TUR), Serdar Gözübüyük (NED), Manuel Gräfe (GER), Orel Grinfeeld (ISR), Matej Jug (SVN), Jakob Kehlet (DEN), Istvan Kovacs (ROU), Ivan Kruzliak (SVK), Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR), Harald Lechner (AUT), Liran Liany (ISR), Robert Madden (SCO), Gediminas Mazeika (LTU), Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA), Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR), Bas Nijhuis (NED), Halis Özkahya (TUR), Clayton Pisani (MLT), Pawel Raczkowski (POL), Robert Schörgenhofer (AUT), Artur Soares Dias (POR), Manuel De Sousa (POR), Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD), Daniel Stefanski (POL), Tobias Stieler (GER), Martin Strömbergsson (SWE), Andris Treimanis (LVA), Istvan Vad (HUN), Slavko Vincic (SVN), Tobias Welz (GER), Miroslav Zelinka (CZE).

Second Category 

Karim Abed (FRA), Aliyar Aghayev (AZE), Petr Ardeleanu (CZE), Thorvaldur Arnason (ISL), Stuart Attwell (ENG), Marius Avram (ROU), Alain Bieri (SUI), Alexandre Boucaut (BEL), Jerome Brisard (FRA), Kevin Clancy (SCO), Sebastian Coltescu (ROU), Nikola Dabanovic (MNE), Andrew Dallas (SCO), Bastian Dankert (GER), Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP), Amaury Delerue (FRA), Marco Di Bello (ITA), Christian Dingert (GER), Daniele Doveri (ITA), Neil Doyle (IRL), Adam Farkas (HUN), Bartosz Frankowski (POL), Marco Fritz (GER), Marco Guida (ITA), Tore Hansen (NOR), Alexander Harkam (AUT), Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez (ESP), Arnold Hunter (NIR), Massimiliano Irrati (ITA), Sergei Ivanov (RUS), Adrien Jaccottet (SUI), Enea Jorgji (ALB), Fran Jovic (CRO), Srdjan Jovanovic (SRB), Georgi Kabakov (BUL), Mete Kalkavan (TUR), Charalampos Kalogeropoulos (GRE), Stephan Klossner (SUI), Georgios Kominis (GRE), Peter Kralovic (SVK), Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (DEN), Artyom Kuchin (KAZ), Sergei Lapochkin (RUS), Jonathan Lardot (BEL), Francois Letexier (FRA), Tiago Lopes Martins (POR), Robert Madley (ENG), Juan Martinez Munuera (ESP), Davide Massa (ITA), Dimitar Meckarovski (MKD), Vitaly Meshkov (RUS), Hugo Miguel (POR), Benoît Millot (FRA), Antti Munukka (FIN), Ville Nevalainen (FIN), Ola Hobber Nilsen (NOR), Ali Palabiyik (TUR), Bojan Pandzic (SWE), Craig Pawson (ENG), Irfan Peljto (BIH), Radu Petrescu (ROU), Nikola Popov (BUL), Nicolas Rainville (FRA), Roi Reinshreiber (ISR), Jose Sanchez Martinez (ESP), Alan Sant (MLT), Sandro Schärer (SUI), Frank Schneider (FRA), Manuel Schüttengruber (AUT), Eitan Shmuelevitz (ISR), Daniel Siebert (GER), Ivaylo Stoyanov (BUL), Paul Tierney (ENG), Kristo Tohver (EST), Leontios Trattou (CYP), Siarhei Tsynkevich (BLR), Michael Tykgaard (DEN), Paolo Valeri (ITA), Pol van Boekel (NED), Bart Vertenten (BEL), Carlos Xistra (POR).

Third Category

Kari a Hovdanum (FRO), Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE), Alexandr Aliyev (KAZ), Sandor Ando-Szabo (HUN), Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (LVA), Stefan Apostolov (BUL), Alexandros Aretopoulos (GRE), Furkat Atazhanov (KAZ), Mykola Balakin (UKR), Suren Baliyan (ARM), Veaceslav Banari (MDA), Luca Barbeno (SMR), Jason Barcelo (GIB), Luis Branco Godinho (POR), Jörgen Burchardt (DEN), Volen Chinkov (BUL), Timotheos Christofí (CYP), Fabio Costa Verissimo (POR), Vasilis Dimitriou (CYP), Nenad Djokic (SRB), Luis Do Nascimento Teixeira (AND), Alain Durieux (LUX), Espen Eskas (NOR), Trustin Farrugia Cann (MLT), Horatiu Fesnic (ROU), Yigal Frid (ISR), Juri Frischer (EST), George Gaman (ROU), Filip Glova (SVK), Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA), Iwan Griffith (WAL), Danilo Grujic (SRB), Kristoffer Hagenes (NOR), Eldorjan Hamiti (ALB), Robert Harvey (IRL), Rahim Hasanov (AZE), Robert Hennessy (IRL), Dennis Higler (NED), Thoroddur Hjaltalin (ISL), Zaven Hovhannisyan (ARM), Christopher Jäger (AUT), Dejan Jakimovski (MKD), Krzysztof Jakubik (POL), Jari Järvinen (FIN), Nejc Kajtazovic (SVN), Jovan Kaludjerovic (MNE), Ferenc Karako (HUN), Kristoffer Karlsson (SWE), Besfort Kasumi (KVX), Keith Kennedy (NIR), Peter Kjaersgaard (DEN), Laurent Kopriwa (LUX), Yaroslav Kozyk (UKR), Ivar Kristjansson (ISL), Giorgi Kruashvili (GEO), Mykola Kryvonosov (UKR), Irakli Kvirikashvili (GEO), Nicolas Laforge (BEL), Erik Lambrechts (BEL), Kirill Levnikov (RUS), Manfredas Lukjancukas (LTU), Jens Maae (DEN), Stavros Mantalos (GRE), Boris Marhefka (SVK), Bryn Markham-Jones (WAL), Tim Marshall (NIR), Dimitrios Masias (CYP), Aleksei Matiunin (RUS), Paul McLaughlin (IRL), Ian McNabb (NIR), Halil Meler (TUR), Milovan Milacic (MNE), Dumitru Muntean (MDA), Tomasz Musial (POL), Bojan Nikolic (SRB), Genc Nuza (KVX), Glenn Nyberg (SWE), Rade Obrenovic (SVN), Michal Ocenas (SVK), Pavel Orel (CZE), Igor Pajac (CRO), Ioannis Papadopoulos (GRE), Anastasios Papapetrou (GRE), Erez Papir (ISR), Omar Pashayev (AZE), Tihomir Pejin (CRO), Dragan Petrovic (BIH), Christophe Pires Martins (LUX), Anders Poulsen (DEN), Radek Prihoda (CZE), Zbynek Proske (CZE), Donald Robertson (SCO), Vitaly Romanov (UKR), Donatas Rumsas (LTU), Rohit Saggi (NOR), Daniyar Sakhi (KAZ), Fedayi San (SUI), Joao Santos Capela (POR), Urs Schnyder (SUI), Admir Sehovic (BIH), Dzianis Shcharbakou (BLR), Denys Shurman (UKR), Joao Silva Pinheiro (POR), Kai Steen (NOR), Duje Strukan (CRO), Roomer Tarajev (EST), Alexandru Tean (MDA), Vilhjalmur Thorarinnsson (ISL), Stanislav Todorov (BUL), Alex Troleis (FRO), Lionel Tschudi (SUI), Alper Ulusoy (TUR), George Vadachkoria (GEO), Petri Viljanen (FIN), Mikhail Vilkov (RUS), Lawrence Visser (BEL), Nick Walsh (SCO), Julian Weinberger (AUT), Juxhin Xhaja (ALB), Fyodor Zammit (MLT), Mario Zebec (CRO).

Women

Elite
Jana Adamkova (CZE), Sandra Braz Bastos (POR), Stephanie Frappart (FRA), Gyöngyi Gaal (HUN), Riem Hussein (GER), Katalin Kulcsar (HUN), Pernilla Larsson (SWE), Lina Lehtovaara (FIN), Kateryna Monzul (UKR), Monika Mularczyk (POL), Sara Persson (SWE), Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS), Esther Staubli (SUI), Bibiana Steinhaus (GER), Carina Vitulano (ITA), Lorraine Watson (SCO), Olga Zadinova (CZE).

First Category
Vesna Budimir (CRO), Amy Fearn (ENG), Florence Guillemin (FRA), Sofia Karagiorgi (CYP), Zuzana Kovacova (SVK), Ivana Martincic (CRO), Petra Pavlikova (SVK), Marte Soro (NOR), Eszter Urban (HUN).

Second Category
Eleni Antoniou (GRE), Ewa Augustyn (POL), Julia Baier (AUT), Paula Brady (IRL), Tania Fernandes Morais (LUX), Cheryl Foster (WAL), Marta Frias Acedo (ESP), Sarah Garratt (ENG), Simona Ghisletta (SUI), Desiree Grundbacher (SUI), Marta Huerta de Aza (ESP), Justina Lavrenovaite (LTU), Maria Marotta (ITA), Elvira Nurmustafina (KAZ), Tess Olofsson (SWE), Lois Otte (BEL), Meliz Ozcigdem (TUR), Vivian Peeters (NED), Graziella Pirriatore (ITA), Barbara Poxhofer (AUT), Ivana Projkovska (MKD), Silvia Rosa Domingos (POR), Angelika Soeder (GER), Tanja Subotic (SVN), Karolina Tokarska (POL), Volha Tsiareshka (BLR), Rebecca Welch (ENG).

Third Category
Ainara Acevedo Dudley (ESP), Victoria Beyer (FRA), Sabina Bolic (CRO), Briet Bragadottir (ISL), Catarina Ferreira Campos (POR), Merima Celik (BIH), Aleksandra Cesen (SVN), Tinna Christensen (DEN), Solen Dallongeville (FRA), Iuliana Demetrescu (ROU), Emilie Rodahl Dokset (NOR), Galiya Echeva (BUL), Valentina Finzi (ITA), Michaela Fritz (AUT), Chryso Georgíou (CYP), Yuliya Gurbanova (AZE), Christiana Guteva (BUL), Liliya Hasanova (KAZ), Lizzy van der Helm (NED), Rasa Imanalijeva (LTU), Jeļena Jermolajeva (LVA), Hanna Kaplainen (FIN), Frida Klarlund Nielsen (DEN), Veronika Kovarova (CZE), Marina Krupskaya (RUS), Ifeoma Kulmala (FIN), Sabayel Kuzutürk (AZE), Triinu Laos (EST), Katarzyna Lisiecka-Sek (POL), Irina Lyussina (BEL), Jurgita Macikunyte (LTU), Maria Martinez Madrona (ESP), Dimitrina Milkova (BUL), Ana Minic (SRB), Neslihan Muratdagi (TUR), Henrikke Nervik (NOR), Vera Onica (MDA), Hannelore Onsea (BEL), Vera Opeikina (RUS), Cristina Paraluta (ROU), Jelena Pejkovic (CRO), Tamara Petric (SRB), Ruzanna Petrosyan (ARM), Alina Pesu (ROU), Alexandra Ponomareva (RUS), Tanja Racic (BIH), Laura Rapp (SWE), Viola Raudzina (LVA), Anastasiya Romanyuk (UKR), Araksya Saribekyan (ARM), Meitar Shemesh (ISR), Rachel Shkuri (ISR), Shona Shukrula (NED), Nelli Stepanyan (ARM), Sandra Strub (SUI), Lucie Sulcova (CZE), Liudmila Telbukh (UKR), Cansu Tiryaki (TUR), Cristina Trandafir (ROU), Dimítra Tsaganou (GRE), Andromachi Tsiofliki (GRE), Reelika Turi (EST), Irina Turovskaya (BLR), Kateryna Usova (UKR), Irena Velevackoska (MKD), Marina Visnjic (SRB), Karoline Wacker (GER), Ruth-Anne Wright (NIR).

Futsal

Elite
Gerald Bauernfeind (AUT), Marc Birkett (ENG), Gerd Bylois (BEL), Ondrej Cerni (CZE), Kamil Cetin (TUR), Juan Cordero Gallardo (ESP), Eduardo Fernandes Coelho (POR), Tomasz Frak (POL), Angelo Galante (ITA), Borislav Kolev (BUL), Gabor Kovacs (HUN), Timo Onatsu (FIN), Cedric Pelissier (FRA), Ivan Shabanov (RUS), Bogdan Sorescu (ROU), Sasa Tomic (CRO), Admir Zahovic (SVN).

First Category
Josip Barton (MKD), Moshe Bohbot (ISR), Vasileios Christodoulis (GRE), Nuno Costa Bogalho (POR), Swen Eichler (GER), Trayan Enchev (BUL), Balazs Farkas (HUN), Nikola Jelic (CRO), Vladimir Kadykov (RUS), Alessandro Malfer (ITA), Alejandro Martinez Flores (ESP), Costas Nicolaou (CYP), Lukas Pesko (SVK), Elchin Samadli (AZE), Ozan Soykan (TUR).

Second Category
Victor Berg Audic (FRA), Veljko Boskovic (MNE), Michalis Christofides (CYP), Ibrahim El Jilali (NED), Raquel Gonzelez Ruano (ESP), Hennadii Hora (UKR), Nicola Manzione (ITA), Kirill Naishouler (FIN), Iuri Neverov (RUS), Fredric Nilholt (SWE), Arsen Nonikashvili (GEO), Peter Nurse (ENG), Miguel Oliveira Castilho (POR), Chiara Perona (ITA), Dario Pezzuto (ITA), Ruben Pinto Guerreiro (POR), Patrik Porkert (AUT), Vladan Radulovic (SRB), Vitali Rakutski (BLR), David Schaerli (SUI), Aleksandras Sliva (LTU), Simon Todorovic (SVN), Andrej Topic (CRO), Irina Velikanova (RUS), Grigori Zelentsov (RUS).

Third Category
Olzhas Abrayev (KAZ), Antonios Adamopoulos (GRE), Raafat Al Hamola (ISR), Yasin Alageyik (BEL), Ademir Avdic (SWE), Vedran Babic (CRO), Alem Bajrovic (BIH), Mario Belavy (SVK), Rastislav Behancin (SVK), Besar Beqiri (KVX), Idan Berenshtein (ISR), David Berry (IRL), Juan Boelen (BEL), Mario Bohun (SVK), Tatiana Boltneva (RUS), Viktor Bugenko (MDA), Ugur Cakmak (TUR), Vlad Ciobanu (ROU), Christos Christou (CYP), Vasilica Ciuplea (WAL), Murat Colak (TUR), Haris Curovac (SWE), Ovidiu Curta (ROU), Daniele D’Adamo (SMR), Danijel Darandik (GER), Daniel Deca (ROU), Maksim Dzeikala (BLR), Eduards Fatkulins (LVA), David Glavonjic (SWE), Kreshnik Hakrama (ALB), Ingo Heemsoth (GER), Tom-Joran Henriksen (NOR), Yevhen Hordiienko (UKR), Carl Hughes (WAL), Besart Ismajli (KVX), Damian Jaruchiewicz (POL), Shota Khukhilava (GEO), Kaloyan Kirilov (BUL), Jan Kliner (CZE), Talgat Kosmukhambetov (KAZ), Jan Kresta (CZE), Denys Kutsyi (UKR), Arttu Kyynaeraeinen (FIN), Julien Lang (FRA), Daniel Matkovic (SUI), Gordon McCabe (SCO), Marjan Mladenovski (MKD), Ales Mocnik (SVN), Ramil Namazov (AZE), Filip Nesnera (CZE), Katarzyna Netkowska (POL), Olli Niemela (FIN), David Nissen (DEN), Yusif Nurullayev (AZE), Grigori Osomkov (EST), Nebojsa Panic (SRB), Jacob Pawlowski (GER), Inguns Purins (LVA), Igor Puzovic (BIH), Hikmat Qafarli (AZE), Petar Radojcic (SRB), Omar Rafiq (NOR), Gerard Ramirez (AND), Sylvester Rodrigues (NED), Marco Rothenfluh (SUI), Zyl Sheriff (GIB), Zoran Sofrenic (BIH), Tadija Stantic (SRB), Slawomir Steczko (POL), Norbert Szilagyi (HUN), Sarunas Tamulynas (LTU Adalbjorn Thornsteisson (ISL), Adrian Tschopp (SUI), Ivo Tsenov (BUL), Fatma Tursun (TUR), Aurelien Uzan (FRA), Jacob Van Dijke (ISR), Lars Van Leeuwen (NED), Matthew Vella (MLT), Dejan Veselic (SVN), Yaroslav Vovchok (UKR), Stefan Vrijens (BEL), Andrzej Witkowski (POL), Yiangos Yiangou (CYP).

UEFA: Referees Oliver and Taylor promoted to Elite

The UEFA Referees Committee approved the referee categories for the second half of the season 2017/2018. On the men’s list, Michael Oliver (photo) and Anthony Taylor (both from England) were added to the Elite category, while Andreas Ekberg (Sweden) has been promoted to Category 1. On the women`s list, four Elite referees retired: Teodora Albon and Cristina Dorcioman (both from Romania), Efthalia Mitsi (GRE) and Morag Pirie (SCO). There were minor changes on the futsal list, where female referees were added for the first time and combined with male referees into one list.

Men

Retired from Elite: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA), Paolo Tagliavento (ITA), Craig Thomson (SCO).

Promoted from First Category to Elite: Michael Oliver (ENG), Anthony Taylor (ENG).

Retired from First Category: Tony Chapron (FRA), Stefan Johannesson (SWE), Andre Marriner (ENG).

Promoted from Second Category to First Category: Andreas Ekberg (SWE).

Retired/removed from Second Category: Anatoliy Abdula (UKR), Svein-Erik Edvartsen (NOR), Antony Gautier (FRA), Gunnar Jonsson (ISL), Christos Nicolaides (CYP), Pavle Radovanovic (MNE), Ognjen Valjic (BIH), Ante Vucemilovic-Simunovic (CRO), Anatolii Zhabchenko (UKR).

New FIFA Referees entered directly in Second Category: Karim Abed (FRA), Stuart Attwell (ENG), Jerome Brisard (FRA), Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP), Marco Di Bello (ITA), Daniele Doveri (ITA), Paul Tierney (ENG).

Retired/removed from Third Category: Sascha Amhof (SUI), Dennis Antamo (FIN), Sven Bindels (LUX), Oleksandr Derdo (UKR), Markus Hameter (AUT), Nikolaj Hänni (SUI), Edin Jakupovic (BIH), Georgios Kyzas (GRE), Martin Lundby (NOR),Yurii Mozharovskyy (UKR), Dominik Ouschan (AUT), Petur Reinert (FRO), Lasha Silagava (GEO), Aleksandar Vasic (SRB), Nikolai Yordanov (BUL).

New FIFA Referees entered in Third Category: Kari a Hovdanum (FRO), Volen Chinkov (BUL), Timotheos Christofí (CYP), Yigal Frid (ISR), Danilo Grujic (SRB), Kristoffer Hagenes (NOR), Eldorjan Hamiti (ALB), Christopher Jäger (AUT), Nejc Kajtazovic (SVN), Kristoffer Karlsson (SWE), Besfort Kasumi (KVX), Yaroslav Kozyk (UKR), Ivar Kristjansson (ISL), Mykola Kryvonosov (UKR), Irakli Kvirikashvili (GEO), Milovan Milacic (MNE), Igor Pajac (CRO), Ioannis Papadopoulos (GRE), Dragan Petrovic (BIH), Christophe Pires Martins (LUX), Vitaly Romanov (UKR), Rohit Saggi (NOR), Urs Schnyder (SUI), Admir Sehovic (BIH), Denys Shurman (UKR), Lionel Tschudi (SUI), Petri Viljanen (FIN), Nick Walsh (SCO), Julian Weinberger (AUT), Juxhin Xhaja (ALB).

Women

Retired from Elite: Teodora Albon (ROU), Cristina Dorcioman (ROU), Efthalia Mitsi (GRE), Morag Pirie (SCO).

Promoted from First Category to Elite: Lorraine Watson (SCO).

Retired/removed from First Category: Linn Andersson (SWE), Eleni Lampadariou (GRE), Severine Zinck (FRA).

Promoted from Second Category to First Category: Ivana Martincic (CRO).

Retired/removed from Second Category: Cathrine Eide (NOR), Zuzana Valentova (SVK).

Promoted from Third Category to Second Category: Rebecca Welch (ENG).

Retired/removed from Third Category: Jelena Banjeglav (SRB), Beatriz Gil Gozalo (ESP), Kristina Kazoroh (UKR), Dilek Kocbay (TUR), Eliska Kralovec-Kramlova (CZE),Yuliya Medvedeva (KAZ), Ana Soares Aguiar (POR).

New FIFA Referees entered in Third Category: Ainara Acevedo Dudley (ESP), Victoria Beyer (FRA), Briet Bragadottir (ISL), Catarina Ferreira Campos (POR),Emilie Rodahl Dokset (NOR), Lizzy van der Helm (NED), Jeļena Jermolajeva (LVA), Hanna Kaplainen (FIN), Veronika Kovarova (CZE), Marina Krupskaya (RUS),Cristina Paraluta (ROU), Jelena Pejkovic (CRO), Tamara Petric (SRB), Alina Pesu (ROU), Laura Rapp (SWE), Liudmila Telbukh (UKR), Cansu Tiryaki (TUR), Dimítra Tsaganou (GRE), Reelika Turi (EST), Ruth-Anne Wright (NIR).

Futsal

Retired from Elite: Oleg Ivanov (UKR).

Retired from First Category: Pascal Lemal (BEL), Barry Weijers (NED).

Retired/removed from Second Category: Tarik Keco (BIH), Kalin Kinov (BUL), Simon Rogers (IRL), Daniele Di Resta (ITA), Damir Radovic (SRB).

Women referees added to Second Category: Raquel Gonzelez Ruano (ESP), Chiara Perona (ITA), Irina Velikanova (RUS).

New FIFA Referees entered directly in Second Category: Dario Pezzuto (ITA).

Retired/removed from Third Category: Martin Cilek (CZE), Toni Lehtinen (FIN), Konstantinos Kommatas (GRE), Guy Berger (ISR), Oren Simanian (ISR), Mario Cassar (MLT), Nikola Aleksic (SRB), Serhat Celik (TUR), Sabit Selvi (TUR).

Women referees added to Third Category: Katarzyna Netkowska (POL), Fatma Tursun (TUR).

New FIFA Referees entered in Third Category: Yasin Alageyik (BEL), Alem Bajrovic (BIH), Zoran Sofrenic (BIH), Ivo Tsenov (BUL), Filip Nesnera (CZE), Arttu Kyynaeraeinen (FIN), Raafat Al Hamola (ISR), Idan Berenshtein (ISR), Jacob Van Dijke (ISR), Tatiana Boltneva (RUS), Gordon McCabe (SCO), Nebojsa Panic (SRB), Tadija Stantic (SRB), Haris Curovac (SWE), Ugur Cakmak (TUR), Murat Colak (TUR), Denys Kutsyi (UKR).

FIFA Club World Cup Final 2017: Ramos (MEX)

16 December 2017

Final
Real Madrid – Gremio Porto Alegre
Referee: Cesar Ramos (MEX, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Miguel Hernandez (MEX)
Fourth official: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)
Reserve AR: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
VAR 1: Mark Geiger (USA)
VAR 2: Jakhongir Saidov (UZB)
AVAR: Felix Zwayer (GER)

Match for Third Place
Al Jazira – CF Pachuca
Referee: Malang Diedhiou (SEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Djibril Camara (SEN)
Assistant Referee 2: El Hadji Samba (SEN)
Fourth Official: Matthew Conger (NZL)
Reserve AR: Tevita Makasini (TGA)
VAR 1: Clement Turpin (FRA)
VAR 2: Simon Lount (NZL)
AVAR: Artur Soares Dias (POR)

Lazio fans bombard referee's cafe with bad online reviews

It's not easy being a football referee, and it's not easy running a cafe in an age of online reviews. Especially in Italy, famous for its passion for the beautiful game and its love of good cuisine. So when referee Piero Giacomelli made two controversial decisions during Lazio's 3-1 home defeat to Torino in Serie A on 11 December, Lazio fans decided to retaliate - against his restaurant. Fans were outraged by Giacomelli not penalising Torino's Iago Falque for handball and for issuing a red card to Ciro Immobile for headbutting Nicolas Burdisso.

On hearing Giacomelli ran a food-serving cafe in Trieste in northern Italy, angry Lazio fans took to the review site Trip Advisor and Google reviews to vent their frustration. Since Lazio's defeat there has been a flurry of bad reviews for Cafe Rossetti, believed to be run by Giacomelli. Many posts appear to be directed at the referee personally, rather than genuine complaints by dissatisfied diners. One Google review read: "Do you cook like you referee?" Another reviewer posted: "This place is as bad as Giacomelli." Others used the opportunity to mock the food and service even though there is no evidence to suggest those posting one-star reviews in the past few days had eaten there. According to Italian news publications, including Rome-based newspaper Il Messaggero, there were also some negative reviews published on travel website TripAdvisor. The restaurant is rated on the site as 'excellent' by 56% of reviews, at time of writing, and all 'poor' or 'terrible' reviews currently available on the site were posted prior to the match. But Lazio fan website La Lazio Siamo Noi has screenshots of what it claims are reviews posted on TripAdvisor since the match and before their removal from the site, which are also being shared on Facebook. It is not clear whether Giacomelli is still the owner of the cafe and website Football Italia says he is no longer running the business. The Facebook page for Cafe Rossetti also appears to have been taken down.

Source: BBC

Player recalled from dressing room after VAR reversal

Trials of video assistant referees in the German Bundesliga threw up yet another controversial case at the weekend when a player had actually left the field after being sent off before being called back on. Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Marius Wolf was called back from the dressing rooms after having been initially dismissed by the referee in the 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.

Wolf was shown a red card for a challenge on James Rodriguez with just under 20 minutes remaining and kicked a microphone in frustration as he walked off. But referee Harm Osmers changed his mind after consulting video replays and Wolf returned to receive a yellow card instead of red. The decision might have vindicated the whole point of VARs but not when a player had already left the pitch. “I was in the changing room already,” said Wolf. “Then the team manager came and called me back, said the referee was looking at video evidence. I also said he should do that. For me, it was not a red card.”

The International Football Association Board, custodians of the Laws of the Game, is set to rule in March whether to rubber stamp the use of VAR for the World Cup finals in Russia, with some members not as convinced as FIFA president Gianni Infantino that the system is foolproof.

Source: Inside World Football

FIFA Club World Cup 2017 – Semi-finals

12 December 2017
Gremio Porto Alegre – CF Pachuca
Referee: Felix Brych (GER, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Borsch (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Lupp (GER)
Fourth Official: Malang Diedhiou (SEN)
Reserve AR: El Hadji Samba (SEN)
VAR 1: Felix Zwayer (GER)
VAR 2: Djibril Camara (SEN)
AVAR: Clement Turpin (FRA)

13 December 2017
Al Jazira – Real Madrid
Referee: Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Emerson De Carvalho (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Andres Cunha (URU)
Reserve AR: Miguel Hernandez (MEX)
VAR 1: Artur Soares Dias (POR)
VAR 2: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)
AVAR: Wilton Sampaio (BRA)

FIFA Club World Cup 2017 – Match for Fifth Place

12 December 2017

Wydad AC – Urawa Red Diamonds
Referee: Matthew Conger (NZL, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Simon Lount (NZL) 
Assistant Referee 2: Tevita Makasini (TGA)
Fourth Official: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)
Reserve AR: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
VAR 1: Artur Soares Dias (POR)
VAR 2: Jakhongir Saidov (UZB)
AVAR: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (QAT)

FIFA Club World Cup 2017 – Second Round

9 December 2017

CF Pachuca – Wydad AC
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
Assistant Referee 2: Jakhongir Saidov (UZB)
Fourth Official: Matthew Conger (NZL)
Reserve AR: Tevita Makasini (TGA)
VAR 1: Mark Geiger (USA)
VAR 2: Simon Lount (NZL)
AVAR: Felix Zwayer (GER)

Al Jazira – Urawa Red Diamonds
Referee: Cesar Ramos (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Miguel Hernandez (MEX)
Fourth Official: Felix Brych (GER)
Reserve AR: Stefan Lupp (GER)
VAR 1: Mauro Vigliano (ARG)
VAR 2: Mark Borsch (GER)
AVAR: Andres Cunha (URU)

Clattenburg: “Collina changed my refereeing career”

It was the research ahead of the games that made Pierluigi Collina the most respected referee in football. The Italian would spend hours in the build-up to games watching footage of matches, looking for tactics employed by teams which he could swiftly stamp out when he was on the pitch.

Speaking on NBC's Men in Blazers podcast, former FIFA and Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg explained how Collina changed his refereeing career: “It was simple: he was my observer in Bayern Munich vs Barcelona [2015 Champions League semi-final second leg] reviewing my performance. Nervous? It was a nightmare because you never drink in his company and I always liked a beer but you respected the man. When he came to this game, he said, 'Mark, have you prepared for this match?' I said, 'I've watched the first leg six times.' He said, 'Really?' and he opened his laptop and asked, 'Have you seen this tactic by Bayern Munich?' I said, 'What are you on about?' The small player, Thiago, from Bayern Munich was deliberately standing in an offside position but not being involved in play. He would block the path of Pique from heading the ball in attacking phases. This was to create the space for the big players of Bayern Munich to attack the small players from Barcelona because only had one tall player. It was a clear tactic. In the second leg, after 13 minutes, I gave a small free kick and the players thought I was unbelievable. They couldn't understand how I knew this tactic.” Clattenburg went on to employ Collina's methods in the English Premier League. “When I started to become the best referee or one of the best referees in the world, I knew the tactics before clubs even thought about them. In the Premier League, for example, blocking in the penalty area, I was already telling the players that I'm watching the block. Before it even happened the players are like, 'Woah, the referee knows what we're going to do here'.” (Source: Balls)

The 42-year-old attracted controversy earlier this week for his comments regarding a match between Chelsea and Tottenham in May 2016, and has now blamed Mourinho for his decision to leave the Premier League. “I was refereeing the game when Wayne Rooney broke Bobby Charlton’s record and Mourinho came into my dressing room and he was unhappy about a handball penalty that I didn’t give,” Clattenburg told the Men in Blazers podcast. “I had walked off that pitch at Stoke, which was always the coldest stadium, it was always wet and miserable, and refereeing Man United was never an easy match. To come off that match it felt immense that I’d actually had a good performance, and for him to come into my dressing room and criticise my performance for a handball that I’d seen, that had clearly come off his chest, I knew that I was right but he’d put a seed of doubt into my mind. I drove home 250 miles thinking I had made a big error, my wife knew my attitude had changed, and I thought to myself, ‘Do I really want to be a part of this anymore? Do I really want to referee?’And I went soul-searching, I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to and I had to get out.” (Source: Football365)

Referee fees in Central America

The best paid referees in Central America are those from Costa Rica. The amounts shown below are the fees paid to the referee team, so they are divided among the referee, assistant referees and fourth official assigned to each match:

Costa Rica $1250
Guatemala $1200
El Salvador $725
Honduras $685
Panama $350
Nicaragua $300

Source: Diez

Bo Karlsson resigns after #metoo accusation: "He said he wanted me"

Karin Thorbjörn was one of Sweden's most promising referees. Nevertheless, she chose to end her career very early. Now she told Football Channel about the harassment of Bo Karlsson that led her to resign: "He was 30 years older than me, but he said that he was in love with me and he wanted me".

Along with Anders Frisk and Jonas Eriksson, Bo Karlsson was one of Sweden's most prestigious football referees over the years. He was appointed to the 1994 World Cup in the USA and the 1991 final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup between Manchester United and FC Barcelona. After his refereeing career, Karlsson has continued to work in the football field and has served as the chairman of the Swedish Football Association's Referees Committee and also as a member of the UEFA Referees Committee. Now 68, he resigned as the boss of the Referees Committee in Sweden. The reason is that he has been accused of having sexually assaulted a young referee. “The information revealed make it impossible for me to continue as the chairman of the Swedish Referees Committee. I have therefore informed the Swedish Football Association chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson that I will leave my position with immediate effect. My position is based on trust, but these accusations - even after 21 years - are so bad that the best solution for the Swedish football is that I resign. I have no memory of the event and cannot comment on it", said Bo Karlsson to the Football Channel. "Information on inappropriate behavior has prompted Bo Karlsson to resign as chairman of the Referees Committee. It's sad, but the right decision", said Karl-Erik Nilsson, chairman of the Swedish Football Association. "I share Bo Karlsson's view. There is serious information that have emerged and it affects trust in a way that will prevent him from continuing his work".

Karin Thorbjörn, today 41-year-old, is a former football player and referee. She played in Öxabäck/Mark in Allsvenskan and in different youth teams before she suffered a serious injury. Then she started as a referee and her career was promising. But it came to an end after a national event in 1996. Thorbjörn posted on Facebook some examples of "shameful suggestions, far too many hugs and patches on my back. I participated in a football-related cruise on an Åland ferry. I think we were only two girls on that cruise and there were a hundred men”, she says. “Bosse Karlsson was with us too. There was a lot of alcohol going on. That night it was really fun. He said that he was in love with me and he wanted me and that kind of comments. It was shocking. Suddenly, I did not know what he meant, whether he actually thought I was a good referee or just smacking. As a 20-year-old, I thought it was very difficult. I did not know how to reject a person in that position without insulting him in any way. I was very afraid that I would be bad. I thought if I had said something I was afraid it would be turned against me. I felt small, while he was the referee responsible for SvFF. There were people around who heard what it was whispered to me. Every now and then I tried to just laugh at it; it was the way I tried to handle it, but I thought it was really fun. That was the only occasion... but for me it had major consequences. I made sure I was never alone with him. In the summer I would go to the referee education sessions. I was talking to my mother the other day and asked if she remembered and she said she remembered that I was terrified that he would be on that education session. I did not know how to handle the situation. I wanted to avoid all possible situations where I could be put back in this situation again. And that's not correct. It was somewhere there that I understood... my dream and my goal were to referee a World Cup", says Thorbjörn, who, despite her talent as referee, suddenly became unsure how she could know whether she is indeed a good referee and not because Bosse Karlsson was interested in her. In the end, she used an illness as an excuse to completely leave the refereeing. “I had meningitis and then I chose to use it as the reason I ended. In one way, I think this is far from unique if you look at all the stories that have been published in recent weeks, but I'm sad about what I was exposed to and it's so common among men with power to try... that's 30 years of age difference and in a deprivation it's so incredibly judgmental. I do not think the football movement 20 years ago had been prepared to handle such things. I do not even think I thought about saying to someone or reacting to it. My purpose now is to share what happened, to continue to highlight the issue and to give others the opportunity to dare. It's about trying to get some change around structures.”

Source: Fotbollskanalen

UEFA Europa League – Group Stage (Matchday 6)

7 December 2017

Slavia Praha – FK Astana
Referee: Davide Massa (ITA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Antonio Damato (ITA)
Fourth Official: Andrea Crispo (ITA)
Referee Observer: Gylfi Thór Orrason (ISL)

Villarreal – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Referee: Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Henrik Sønderby (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Dennis Wollenberg (DEN)
Additional AR 1: Anders Poulsen (DEN)
Additional AR 2: Jørgen Daugbjerg (DEN)
Fourth Official: Lars Hummelgaard (DEN)
Referee Observer: Elmir Pilav (BIH)

Young Boys – Skënderbeu
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: Nicholas Pratt (WAL)
Fourth Official: Daniel Beckett (WAL)
Referee Observer: Kóstas Kapitanís (CYP)

Dynamo Kyiv – Partizan
Referee: Paweł Gil (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Konrad Sapela (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcin Borkowski (POL)
Additional AR 1: Jarosław Przybył (POL)
Additional AR 2: Piotr Lasyk (POL)
Fourth Official: Adam Kupsik (POL)
Referee Observer: Manuel López Fernández (ESP)

İstanbul Başakşehir – SC Braga
Referee: John Beaton (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas Potter (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Sean Carr (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Steven McLean (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Alan Muir (SCO)
Fourth Official: Jordan Stokoe (SCO)
Referee Observer: Joeri Van De Velde (BEL)

Hoffenheim – Ludogorets
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: Jørn West Larsen (DEN)

Austria Wien – AEK Athens
Referee: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stephen Child (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Robert Madley (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Jonathan Moss (ENG)
Fourth Official: Lee Betts (ENG)
Referee Observer: Lutz Fröhlich (GER)

HNK Rijeka – AC Milan
Referee: István Vad (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: István Albert (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Péter Berettyán (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Ferenc Karakó (HUN)
Additional AR 2: József Erdős (HUN)
Fourth Official: Theodoros Georgiou (HUN)
Referee Observer: Sokol Jareci (ALB)

Apóllon Limassol – Everton
Referee: Sébastien Delférière (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Yves De Neve (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Monteny (BEL)
Additional AR 1: Lawrence Visser (BEL)
Additional AR 2: Alexandre Boucaut (BEL)
Fourth Official: Jo De Weirdt (BEL)
Referee Observer: Michael Ross (NIR)

Atalanta Bergamasca – Olympique Lyonnais
Referee: Aleksey Eskov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Dmitri Mosyakin (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Igor Demeshko (RUS)
Additional AR 1: Mikhail Vilkov (RUS)
Additional AR 2: Vladimir Moskalov (RUS)
Fourth Official: Valeri Danchenko (RUS)
Referee Observer: Michális Argyroú (CYP)

Fastav Zlín – Lokomotiv Moskva
Referee: Mete Kalkavan (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ceyhun Sesigüzel (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Esat Sancaktar (TUR)
Additional AR 1: Halil Meler (TUR)
Additional AR 2: Arda Kardeşler (TUR)
Fourth Official: Kemal Yılmaz (TUR)
Referee Observer: Michael Riley (ENG)

FC København – Sheriff
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Davy Goossens (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Bas van Dongen (NED)
Additional AR 1: Dennis Higler (NED)
Additional AR 2: Jeroen Manschot (NED)
Fourth Official: Joost van Zuilen (NED)
Referee Observer: Laurent Duhamel (FRA)

FCSB – Lugano
Referee: Nikola Dabanović (MNE)
Assistant Referee 1: Milutin Đukić (MNE)
Assistant Referee 2: Jovica Tatar (MNE)
Additional AR 1: Miloš Bošković (MNE)
Additional AR 2: Miloš Savović (MNE)
Fourth Official: Vladan Todorović (MNE)

Hapoel Beer Sheva – Viktoria Plzeň
Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD)
Assistant Referee 1: Marjan Kirovski (MKD)
Assistant Referee 2: Dejan Kostadinov (MKD)
Additional AR 1: Dimitar Mečkarovski (MKD)
Additional AR 2: Dejan Jakimovski (MKD)
Fourth Official: Goce Petreski (MKD)
Referee Observer: Marián Ružbarský (SVK)

Arsenal – Bate Borisov
Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Markus Gutschi (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Roland Riedel (AUT)
Additional AR 1: Markus Hameter (AUT)
Additional AR 2: René Eisner (AUT)
Fourth Official: Andreas Witschnigg (AUT)
Referee Observer: Tomasz Mikulski (POL)

Crvena Zvezda – FC Köln
Referee: Robert Madden (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: David McGeachie (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alastair Mather (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Donald Robertson (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Euan Anderson (SCO)
Fourth Official: Francis Connor (SCO)
Referee Observer: Thomas Einwaller (AUT)

Olympique de Marseille – Red Bull Salzburg
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakou (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dmitrj Žuk (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Alieh Maslianka (BLR)
Additional AR 1: Dzianis Ščarbakoŭ (BLR)
Additional AR 2: Dzmitrj Dzmitrjeŭ (BLR)
Fourth Official: Jurj Chomčanka (BLR)
Referee Observer: Manuel Díaz Vega (ESP)

Vitória SC – Konyaspor
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER)
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: Guido Kleve (GER)
Referee Observer: Haim Jakov (ISR)

Zorya Luhansk – Athletic Club
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: Jan Wegereef (NED)

Hertha BSC – Östersunds FK
Referee: Tiago Lopes (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Ricardo Ferreira (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Luís Pinto (POR)
Additional AR 1: Hugo Miguel (POR)
Additional AR 2: João Capela (POR)
Fourth Official: Rui Teixeira (POR)
Referee Observer: Luciano Luci (ITA)

SBV Vitesse – OGC Nice
Referee: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Slađan Josipovic (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Bekim Zogaj (SUI)
Additional AR 1: Alain Bieri (SUI)
Additional AR 2: Lukas Fähndrich (SUI)
Fourth Official: Stéphane De Almeida (SUI)
Referee Observer: Kristinn Jakobsson (ISL)

Zulte Waregem – Lazio
Referee: Charálampos Kalogerópoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Damianós Efthymiádis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Trỳfon Petrópoulos (GRE)
Additional AR 1: Geórgios Komínis (GRE)
Additional AR 2: Stávros Mántalos (GRE)
Fourth Official: Ioánnis Toumpakáris (GRE)
Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin (SVN)

Vardar – Rosenborg
Referee: Serhiy Boyko (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Volodymyr Volodin (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Oleksandr Korniyko (UKR)
Additional AR 1: Yevhen Aranovskyy (UKR)
Additional AR 2: Anatoliy Abdula (UKR)
Fourth Official: Semen Shlonchak (UKR)
Referee Observer: Gerard Perry (IRL)

Real Sociedad – FC Zenit
Referee: Liran Liani (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: David Biton (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dvir Shimon (ISR)
Additional AR 1: Alon Yefet (ISR)
Additional AR 2: Menashe Masiah (ISR)
Fourth Official: Idan Yarkoni (ISR)
Referee Observer: Luc Wilmes (LUX)

Copa Sudamericana Final 2017

First Leg, 6 December 2017

Independiente – Flamengo
Referee: Mario Diaz de Vivar (PAR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Milciades Saldivar (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Darío Gaona (PAR)
Fourth Official: Eber Aquino (PAR)
VAR 1: Enrique Caceres (PAR)
VAR 2: Eduardo Cardozo (PAR)
AVAR: Roddy Zambrano (ECU)
Referee Assessor: Alberto Tejada (PER)
Referees Committee: Wilson Seneme (BRA)

Second Leg, 13 December 2017

Flamengo – Independiente
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Alexander Guzman (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Cristian De la Cruz (COL)
Fourth Official: Gustavo Murillo (COL)
VAR 1: Daniel Fedorczuk (URU)
VAR 2: Nicolas Taran (URU)
AVAR: Roberto Tobar (CHI)
Referee Assessor: Dario Ubriaco (URU)
Referees Committee: Wilson Seneme (BRA)

UEFA Youth League – Group Stage (Matchday 6)

5 December 2017
Bayern München – Paris St. Germain
Referee: Manuel Schüttengruber (AUT, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Andreas Rothmann (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Stangl (AUT)
Fourth Official: Robert Kempter (GER)
Referee Observer: Helmut Fleischer (GER)

SL Benfica – FC Basel
Referee: Marco Guida (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Lo Cicero (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefano Alassio (ITA)
Fourth Official: Rui Piteira Rodrigues (POR)
Referee Observer: António Almeida Costa (POR)

Manchester United – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Robert Hennessy (IRL)
Assistant Referee 1: Wayne McDonnell (IRL)
Assistant Referee 2: Allen Lynch (IRL)
Fourth Official: Anthony Backhouse (ENG)
Referee Observer: William Young (SCO)

Celtic – Anderlecht
Referee: Keith Kennedy (NIR)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Nethery (NIR)
Assistant Referee 2: Ryan Kelsey (NIR)
Fourth Official: David Munro (SCO)
Referee Observer: Stephen Lodge (ENG)

AS Roma – Qarabağ FK
Referee: Tihomir Pejin (CRO)
Assistant Referee 1: Goran Pataki (CRO)
Assistant Referee 2: Marjan Tomas (CRO)
Fourth Official: Daniele Martinelli (ITA)
Referee Observer: Domenico Messina (ITA)

Chelsea – Atlético de Madrid
Referee: Jens Maae (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Elvis Boric (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Skytte (DEN)
Fourth Official: John Busby (ENG)
Referee Observer: Peter Jones (ENG)

FC Barcelona – Sporting
Referee: Marius Avram (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Valentin Avram (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mihai Marica (ROU)
Fourth Official: David Medié Jiménez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Juan Fernández Marín (ESP)

Olympiakos – Juventus
Referee: Ádám Farkas (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Péter Kóbor (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Balázs Szert (HUN)
Fourth Official: Evángelos Manoúchos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Geórgios Bíkas (GRE)

6 December 2017
NK Maribor – Sevilla FC
Referee: Peter Královič (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Miroslav Benko (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomáš Mókoš (SVK)
Fourth Official: Marko Lackovič (SVN)
Referee Observer: Drago Kos (SVN)

Liverpool – Spartak Moskva
Referee: Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Gustavsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Fredrik Klyver (SWE)
Fourth Official: Scott Oldham (ENG)
Referee Observer: John Ferry (NIR)

Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester City
Referee: Daniyar Sakhi (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 1: Aleksandr Pavlov (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 2: Aydyn Tasybayev (KAZ)
Fourth Official: Vitaliy Romanov (UKR)
Referee Observer: Volodymyr Petrov (UKR)

Feyenoord – Napoli
Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Jakub Winkler (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Bartosz Heinig (POL)
Fourth Official: Siemen Mulder (NED)
Referee Observer: Johan Verbist (BEL)

FC Porto – AS Monaco
Referee: José Sánchez Martínez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Javier Aguilar Rodríguez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: José Gallego García (ESP)
Fourth Official: João Borlido de Matos (POR)
Referee Observer: Salustià Chato Ciprés (AND)

RB Leipzig – Beşiktaş
Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Mantas Lešinskas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mangirdas Mirauskas (LTU)
Fourth Official: Christof Günsch (GER)
Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn (GER)

Tottenham Hotspur – Apoel
Referee: Erik Lambrechts (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Karel De Rocker (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Thibaud Nijssen (BEL)
Fourth Official: John Brooks (ENG)
Referee Observer: Edward Foley (IRL)

Real Madrid – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Margaritov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Venev (BUL)
Fourth Official: Valentín Pizarro Gómez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Manuel Mejuto González (ESP)

Clattenburg: “I allowed Tottenham to self-destruct against Chelsea in 2016”

Former Premier League and FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg says he "allowed Tottenham to self-destruct" when he refereed the 2-2 draw with Chelsea in May 2016 as Spurs conceded the title to Leicester. Spurs needed to beat Chelsea to retain any hope of winning the league. Clattenburg says he "went in with a game plan" so he could not be blamed by Tottenham for losing the title. He booked nine Spurs players in the bad-tempered match, but now says he could have sent off three players. Chelsea and Tottenham received record fines from the Football Association following the game, while Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele was banned for six games for violent conduct against Chelsea's Diego Costa.

Speaking to NBC's Men in Blazers podcast, he said: "I allowed them [Spurs] to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went: 'Tottenham lost the title.' "If I sent three players off from Tottenham, what are the headlines? 'Clattenburg cost Tottenham the title.' It was pure theatre that Tottenham self-destructed against Chelsea and Leicester won the title." Asked if he helped to "script" the game, he replied: "I helped the game. I certainly benefited the game by my style of refereeing. Some referees would have played by the book; Tottenham would have been down to seven or eight players and probably lost and they would've been looking for an excuse. But I didn't give them an excuse, because my game plan was: Let them lose the title."

Clattenburg took charge of the Euro 2016 final, as well as that year's UEFA Champions League and FA Cup finals. In February, he left his job as a Premier League official to become Saudi Arabia's new head of referees. Clattenburg says he had to change his style of refereeing when he took charge of European matches. "The English style of refereeing is different," he added. "I had to referee differently when I went into Europe because none of the top players in Europe would accept some of the physical contact that went on in the Premier League - but that was the theatre, that's what people loved. They love a tackle, they don't want it punished."

Source: BBC

IFFHS World’s Best Woman Referee 2017: Steinhaus (GER)

Outstanding referee Bibiana Steinhaus made it a double for German football when she won the 2017 IFFHS vote as The World’s Best Woman Referee in same time that Felix Brych by the men. Steinhaus became the happiest woman in the football world and stepped into a new area in May 2017 when the DFB Referees Commission announced she would be the first woman to take charge of matches in the men’s major Bundesliga in Germany. In September she took to the field to become the first woman to referee matches in the top five leagues of the world. 91 Experts and journalists from all continents crowned Bibiana Steinhaus for the third time after 2013 and 2014 to the IFFHS World’s Best Woman referee 2017 with a convincing advance. She began her referee career in 2005, leaded matches of men Second Bundesliga and woman international matches since 10 years, for example the World Cup final 2011 in Germany, the Olympic Games final 2012 in England and the Champions League final 2017 in Wales. The Swiss referee Esther Stäubli took a brilliant second place in the ranking, she became this year the first woman referee to lead a men’s World Cup U-17 match in India. Behind her, the two last winners Katalin Kulcsar (2016) and Katerina Monzul (2015) were preceded at the third place by the French Stephanie Frappart, revelation of the season.

IFFHS World’s Best Women Referees 2017
1. Bibiana Steinhaus (GER, photo) 232 p
2. Esther Staubli (SUI) 137 p
3. Stephanie Frappart (FRA) 50 p
4. Katerina Monzul (UKR) 38 p
5. Katalin Kulcsar (HUN) 35 p
6. Riem Hussein (GER) 26 p
7. Pernilla Larsson (SWE) 18 p
8. Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS) 17 p
9. Carina Vitulano (ITA) 15 p
10. Olga Miranda (PAR) 14 p
11. Teodora Albon (ROU) 12 p
12. Claudia Umpierrez (URU) 12 p
13. Sara Persson (SWE) 11 p
14. Jana Adamkova (CZE) 8 p
15. Kate Jacewicz (AUS) 7 p
16. Carol Anne Chenard (CAN) 6 p
17. Gladys Lengwe (ZAM) 2 p
18. Ri Hyang Ok (PRK) 1 p

IFFHS World’s Best Referee 2017: Brych (GER)

German referee Felix Brych has capped a stellar season with his election as The World’s Best Referee 2017 in the annual IFFHS Awards. He succeeds the English Mark Clattenburg, winner 2016 and the Italian Nicola Rizzoli, winner of the Awards 2014 and 2015. Brych, 42 years old, was already in the Top 5 in the last three years and was the referee in June 2017 of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus. He won with a large margin before the English referee Martin Atkinson and the Italian Niccola Rizzoli. Selected journalists and experts from 91 countries around the World took part in the 2017 annual election of the Top referee, the 31th time it has been carried out by the IFFHS. Felix Brych, born in München, has been a leading referee in the German Bundesliga since 2004. He has been in charge of more than 500 official matches in his career including 115 international confrontations. He succeeds in Germany Dr Markus Merk, who won the IFFHS Award in 2004, 2005 and 2007. His calm authority and his regularity made it possible to win this recognized World Award. Martin Atkinson has been a leading contender in England for the past few years while Nicola Rizzoli had won the Award two times before ending his referee career.

IFFHS World’s Best Referees 2017
1. Felix Brych (GER, photo) 178 p
2. Martin Atkinson (ENG) 73 p
3. Nicola Rizzoli (ITA) 59 p
4. Mark Clattenburg (ENG) 50 p
5. Nestor Pitana (ARG) 46 p
6. Bjorn Kuipers (NED) 44 p
7. Damir Skomina (SVN) 40 p
8. Cuneyt Cakir (TUR) 39 p
9. Milorad Mazic (SRB) 38 p
10. Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP) 32 p
11. Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) 20 p
12. Wilmar Roldan (COL) 18 p
13. Bakary Gassama (GAM) 17 p
14. Jonas Eriksson (SWE) 16 p
15. Viktor Kassai (HUN) 14 p
16. Fahad Al-Mirdasi (KSA) 6 p
17. Simon Marciniak (POL) 6 p
18. Malang Diedhiou (SEN) 3 p
19. Alireza Faghani (IRN) 3 p
20. Cesar Ramos (MEX) 1 p

FIFA Club World Cup 2017 – First Round

6 December 2017

Al Jazira – Auckland City
Referee: Malang Diedhiou (SEN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Djibril Camara (SEN)
Assistant Referee 2: El Hadji Samba (SEN)
Fourth Official: Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Reserve AR: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
VAR 1: Clement Turpin (FRA)
VAR 2: Emerson De Carvalho (BRA)
AVAR: Mark Geiger (USA)

UEFA Champions League – Group Stage (Matchday 6)

5 December 2017
Manchester United – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Elenito Di Liberatore (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Mauro Tonolini (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Luca Banti (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
Fourth Official: Fabiano Preti (ITA)
Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen (NOR)

SL Benfica – FC Basel
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Ángel Nevado Rodríguez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Teodoro Sobrino Magán (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoechea (ESP)
Fourth Official: Juan Yuste Jiménez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Matteo Trefoloni (ITA)

Celtic – Anderlecht
Referee: Matej Jug (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Vidali (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Damir Skomina (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Dejan Balažič (SVN)
Fourth Official: Tomislav Pospeh (SVN)
Referee Observer: Uno Tutk (EST)

Bayern München – Paris St. Germain
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: Barış Şimşek (TUR)
Fourth Official: Mustafa Eyisoy (TUR)
Referee Observer: Guy Goethals (BEL)

AS Roma – FK Qarabağ
Referee: Tobias Stieler (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Pickel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Seidel (GER)
Additional AR 1: Bastian Dankert (GER)
Additional AR 2: Harm Osmers (GER)
Fourth Official: Christian Gittelmann (GER)
Referee Observer: Markus Nobs (SUI)

Chelsea – Atlético de Madrid
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: Jan de Vries (NED)
Referee Observer: László Vagner (HUN)

Olympiacos – Juventus
Referee: David Fernández Borbalán (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero Martínez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Diego Barbero Sevilla (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Javier Estrada Fernández (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Fourth Official: Miguel Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Referee Observer: Sándor Piller (HUN)

FC Barcelona – Sporting
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Graeme Stewart (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Kevin Clancy (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Andrew Dallas (SCO)
Fourth Official: Stuart Stevenson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Emil Bozinovski (MKD)

6 December 2017
Liverpool – Spartak Moskva
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Pawel Sokolnicki (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Additional AR 1: Pawel Raczkowski (POL)
Additional AR 2: Tomasz Musial (POL)
Fourth Official: Radoslaw Siejka (POL)
Referee Observer: Vítor Melo Pereira (POR)

NK Maribor – Sevilla FC
Referee: Ovidiu Haţegan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Șovre (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: Ichko Lozev (BUL)

Shakhtar Donetsk – Manchester City
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: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

Feyenoord – SSC Napoli
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: Paul Tierney (ENG)
Fourth Official: Harry Lenard (ENG)
Referee Observer: Terje Hauge (NOR)

FC Porto – AS Monaco
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klasenius (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Wärnmark (SWE)
Additional AR 1: Stefan Johannesson (SWE)
Additional AR 2: Andreas Ekberg (SWE)
Fourth Official: Mehmet Culum (SWE)
Referee Observer: Murat Ilgaz (TUR)

RB Leipzig – Beşiktaş
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 Szábó (HUN)
Fourth Official: Balázs Buzás (HUN)
Referee Observer: Leslie Irvine (NIR)

Tottenham Hotspur – Apoel
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovacić (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Rade Obrenović (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Roberto Ponis (SVN)
Fourth Official: Grega Kordež (SVN)
Referee Observer: Francesco Bianchi (SUI)

Real Madrid – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Pavel Královec (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Roman Slyško (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Ivo Nadvornik (CZE)
Additional AR 1: Petr Ardeleanu (CZE)
Additional AR 2: Karel Hrubes (CZE)
Fourth Official: Martin Wilczek (CZE)
Referee Observer: Christer Fällström (SWE)

Kassai placed 6th on the Hungarian FIFA List 2018

It is now public knowledge that Viktor Kassai has not been selected for the World Cup in Russia 2018. It should be noted right from the outset that, of the 55 nations making up the UEFA confederation, only 13 nations will be representing themselves at the World Cup along with just 10 referees. The referees that will be going are all on the FIFA elite list of referees. In UEFA alone there are 27 referees from various nations on the elite list, including Viktor Kassai. Only 37% of those actually make the final list. Twenty of those 27 were on the pre-selection list, which gradually gets whittled down until just the final 10 remain. Therefore, there is no guarantee for any referee that he will make the final call, even if he is currently ranked number 3 in the world. Cüneyt Çakir from Turkey and Björn Kuipers are the only referees inside the IFFHS top 5 rankings who will be going to the World Cup – they are jointly ranked 5th. Mark Clattenburg (1st) and Nicola Rizzoli (2nd) have both retired, whereas Jonas Eriksson (4th) has not made the final cut either.

Outside of refereeing circles most will believe that Kassai’s omission from the World Cup will be purely down to his performances and the fact that he has had a few high-profile errors over the past 18 months or so. This no doubt played a part in the UEFA referees committee’s decision; however, they will have also considered representations made by the MLSz JB on Kassai’s behalf. The MLSz JB did not back Kassai at all, in fact, they did quite the opposite. At the 2017 Annual General Meeting, Sándor Csányi, President of the MLSz evaluated referee performances overall and stated that referees could make mistakes but that any arrogance would not be tolerated. He further stated that in such cases it may even be conceivable that a referee would not be nominated for the FIFA list. This led many to believe that Kassai would not be nominated to remain on the FIFA list. This was a surprise to many others as Kassai has a reputation amongst his peers for being pleasant, affable and as having a great sense of humour. Whilst he is very proud of his achievements, it is said that he also maintains a high degree of modesty and is always quick to point out good decisions made by his team members, such as a tight offside call and quite clearly states that he would not have been able to achieve any of what he has without a strong, decent team supporting and backing him all the way. He is very well known to promote a team ethos, if one of his team makes an error, it is the error of them as a team, with no blaming of an individual, if they have a decent game, it is a team success. I have watched him explain the advantage law to a 12-year-old trainee referee 10 times on the trot, whilst coaching them, and all that with a huge smile on his face and in a calm, relaxed manner, not even a hint of irritation that they just couldn’t get it because it isn’t logical to them. This is a man who by all accounts will freely give up his time and more often than not travel at his own expense, to coach and mentor young and inexperienced referees. One of his fellow professionals at UEFA stated “Viktor is a really nice guy, not an ounce of arrogance in him. He is well-liked and respected by all of us. He’s an excellent referee and is always trying to improve himself. I enjoy working with him on the rare occasions I get to do so. I find it absolutely scandalous the way he is treated by the MLSz”. Around the end of September, rumours became very strong that Sándor Puhl, Vice-President of the MLSz JB was going to nominate Kassai in 6th place on the FIFA list. Our source at UEFA was horrified and described it as scandalous at best. At that time, the nominations had not been submitted and UEFA sent a strong message to the MLSz by naming Kassai for a couple of high profile UEFA CL matches, despite him not featuring in the domestic league. They were showing that he had their support and their backing. He is very well liked and respected at UEFA – unlike, it appears, at the MLSz. FIFA nominations are submitted at the end of October. On 12th November, we received confirmation from our source at UEFA that Sándor Puhl had indeed nominated Kassai as number 6 on the FIFA list and in effect has nominated him for demotion from the elite list. Vad was nominated as number 1, with Bognár as number 2 and UEFA feel that Puhl is trying to force them into accepting these rankings despite UEFA believing otherwise. Whilst Bognár is popular at UEFA, Vad is not. The latter is seen as arrogant by UEFA and is not trusted, viewing him as too inconsistent and error-prone. We have been unable to ascertain Vad Sr.’s (the father of Vad) exact role within the MLSz; however, he is a senior member of staff and is known to be friends with and a supporter of Puhl. There are claims that he has used his position and friendship to try and influence his son, replacing Kassai as the number 1 referee. The UEFA referees committee have sought independent assessments of Kassai’s domestic matches as there is a suspicion that he is deliberately being unjustly marked down. They have copies of the videos of his games, but as of yet there has been no confirmation as to whether he received different marks from their assessors or not. It is common knowledge that every Football Association runs on an element of, “it’s not what you know but who you know“, and there is always a degree of favouritism and that is unlikely to ever really change. That might be ok, to a degree at least, in terms of matches being allocated on a favouritism basis as opposed to merit-based, like they should be, but when it reaches the stage where a man’s career is adversely affected because he is not ‘the favourite’ then it has gone too far and questions must be asked about the decision making. When one hears comments from other FA’s (Romania, Poland, Germany, England, France, Greece, Slovakia, Russia, as well as within UEFA) that they feel that Kassai is being treated “appallingly”, “dreadfully”, “disgracefully” and “scandalously” by the MLSz JB, it might be prudent to ask very serious questions of the management and whether they are still competent to do the job they have been entrusted to uphold with integrity.

There has been a very noticeable decline in the standard of Hungarian refereeing particularly over the past 18 months – 2 years, not just at NB1 level but right down to grassroots level. There is growing discontent amongst the referees themselves about the lack of management under Sándor Puhl and Sándor Berzi. They state within their small trusted community that they dare not question Puhl’s authority, however, as it would probably mean the end of their career. When Sándor Csányi was elected President of the MLSz in 2010 he promised to run a transparent, verifiable alliance. The MLSz JB are not in any way transparent. Sándor Puhl’s accounts are allowed to be secret. He doesn’t have to account for what money is being spent on. You cannot know exactly how much he’ll get to review reports, transcripts, or travel expenses or even his basic wage. He seemingly lives in the same hotel used for meetings and where the commission organises events; there is a question mark over whether the hotel is paid for by the MLSz. This certainly looks suspicious to everyone else, particularly after problems with the MLSz JT, with car hire, cost accounts, and several astronomical phone bills. The professional referees training, we are told, now takes place at the hotel where there are no proper facilities for fitness training or practical demonstrations/training. It is unclear what, if any, training they receive during their fortnightly meetings but it could go part way into explaining the general decline in fitness levels, with the non-FIFA referees if they are receiving no fitness training and simply being left to their own devices with no guidance. The FIFA referees will receive fitness training at the various UEFA courses that they attend across the year. They typically attend at least 4 courses that last for an entire week, during which they are required to also take a fitness test. They are also provided with dedicated training regimes, unlike the non-FIFA referees. There doesn’t appear to be any coaches/mentors/assessors/sports psychologists attending these meetings either. Contrast this with England where referees meet for 2 days every 2 weeks at St Georges, during those 2 days they will train together as a team, they receive Laws of the Game (LOTG) training and guidance, mistakes are analysed and guidance given as to how these mistakes can be avoided in the future and referees have access to coaches, assessors, mentors and sports psychologists. In Hungary, a computer-based system has been put into place known as the Integrated Football Application (IFA) similar to the Match Officials Administration System (MOAS) used in the UK. All referees and match day assessors have access to the system. Currently, it is very underutilised for lack of a better term. Referees receive an email on Thursday to tell them which game they will be involved with on the following Saturday, on occasion leaving them with having to make travel arrangements of distances up to 400km the following day to attend the game. No consideration is given to their family life, no allowance given for them to be able to plan any family activities. The appointments always used to come out at 10 am on a Tuesday morning. This has worked well in the past, why is this no longer the case? In terms of match day assessors, they receive an email on a Friday giving them a game to assess. There is no record kept of this on IFA, no official transmission, no invoice for expenses etc. Referees are not informed who their matchday assessor will be and they may or may not see them before or after a game! A referee should always have the opportunity to speak with an assessor both pre and post-match – their honest assessment is vital for a referee’s development. We are advised that, post-match, the assessors have to contact Vencel Tóth Sr. and report in a few words about any dubious decisions. He then passes on a summary to Sándor Puhl. This in itself is not unusual. When Keren Barrett was still working for the PGMOL in England he would always phone each of the Premier League referees post-match to ascertain if there had been any problems or contentious decisions that the referee management needed to know about so that they were prepared for when the press and managers started calling to complain or ask for explanations. By noon the following day, the assessor sends a detailed list of match day incidents to Sándor Puhl via email. Puhl is then said to ‘clarify’ what can and cannot go in the report. If this claim is true, it makes a complete mockery of the assessing system. Referees are not perfect and match day assessments are a great resource for them to be able to identify where they have gone wrong in any given match and analyse how to prevent similar mistakes in future. They cannot do this if an incompetent and seemingly dishonest system is in place. It has recently come to light that, during a disciplinary hearing, Zoltan Liptak stated that Kassai made a racist comment towards his then-teammate Patrick Mevoungou during DVTK vs. Vasas at the end of the 2016/17 season. Kassai has denied this accusation and is currently taking legal action against Liptak for defamation. 

Response from the Hungarian FA

“Out of its many tasks, the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ) considers the most important to be the development of the quality of football. The association makes all of its decisions in the spirit that their actions lead to the improvement of the quality of football. In all instances a sort of impartiality is required; personal interests can never influence professional decisions. In recent days, many articles have dealt with referee Viktor Kassai’s absence from the World Cup. In regards to his person and professional activities, the MLSZ have the following to say. Every professional decision may result in positive or negative personal outcomes, as is the case in all procedures where the goal is guaranteeing quality and continuous improvement. The members of the Hungarian refereeing team have been doing their work at an internationally accepted professional level for years; part of this is the evaluation and ranking of performance. Referees must accept when personnel decisions based on performance affect them in a negative way. Domestic referees are assessed based on their aggregate performance in domestic league games in the NB1, since the interest of the MLSZ is first and foremost the improvement of the quality of domestic refereeing. In recent years, several assessments, praise, criticism, and analysis have seen the light of day relating to Viktor Kassai, who was voted the world’s best referee in 2011. In the last six months, both the domestic and international media have dealt with his performances relating to the Champions League quarter-final Bayern Munich - Real Madrid and the World Cup qualifier Turkey - Croatia. As with these games, the MLSZ always stands with our referees that do their work to the best of their ability, when they receive criticism from home or abroad. As Sándor Csányi, president of the MLSZ, said at this year’s convention, every sportsman, including referees, can make mistakes; however, in no case is there an excuse for behaviour that is unacceptable towards the sport and its participants i.e. players, sporting directors or fans. Regarding Viktor Kassai’s domestic ranking, a Hungarian referee’s assessment is entirely independent of performance in any international match; the latter is the jurisdiction of UEFA and FIFA. The MLSZ Referees Committee assesses referees solely based on their performances in league matches in the OTP Bank Liga. In all 198 domestic league matches, referee assessors rate the performance of referees; this includes all assistants as well as the main referee. These professional ratings are averaged across all performances and form the basis for the ranking of each individual referee. Only the impartial analysis of domestic performance is used to determine the final rankings. As a consequence, the MLSZ Referees Committee cannot protect, help, or hinder any individual referee, as this “special treatment” would add undesirable personal emotion into a purely professional rating process. Referees can only improve their professional ranking by being rewarded with high marks for high quality performances in matches. In summary, the World Cup appearance of the highest-ranked Hungarian referees is not down to their MLSZ ranking, but instead the decision of the FIFA referees committee, who presumably base this on referees’ international performance. The MLSZ is sorry that there will be no Hungarian referee present at the 2018 World Cup, but it considers a more important, in fact the most important, task to improve the quality of domestic football and youth development.”

Source: Hungarian Football