Refereeing World

Concacaf League 2022 – Semi-finals (Second Leg)

11 October 2022

LD Alajuelense – Real Espana
Referee: Ismail Elfath (USA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Kyle Atkins (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Logan Brown (USA)
Fourth Official: Ismael Cornejo (SLV)

CD Olimpia – FC Motagua
Referee: Ivan Barton (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: David Moran (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: Zachari Zeegelaar (SUR)
Fourth Official: Juan Calderon (CRC)

UEFA Youth League 2022/2023 – Group Stage (Matchday 4)

11 October 2022

Shakhtar Donetsk – Real Madrid
Referee: Igor Stojčevski (MKD, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Vasilevski (MKD)
Assistant Referee 2: Slagan Markoski (MKD)
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szczech (POL)
Referee Observer: William Young (SCO)

Maccabi Haifa – Juventus
Referee: Matthew De Gabriele (MLT)
Assistant Referee 1: Jurgen Spiteri (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Mitchell Scerri (MLT)
Fourth Official: Nael Odeh (ISR)
Referee Observer: Shmuel Shteif (ISR)

GNK Dinamo – FC Salzburg
Referee: Jakob Sundberg (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Ole Kronlykke (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Deniz Yurdakul (DEN)
Fourth Official: Ante Čuljak (CRO)
Referee Observer: Murat Ilgaz (TUR)

FC Copenhagen – Manchester City
Referee: Kaarlo Hämäläinen (FIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Veli-Matti Leppänen (FIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Simo Mynttinen (FIN)
Fourth Official: Jonas Hansen (DEN)
Referee Observer: Hannes Kaasik (EST)

Paris St. Germain – SL Benfica
Referee: Darren England (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: James Mainwaring (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Wade Smith (ENG)
Fourth Official: Pierre Legat (FRA)
Referee Observer: Karen Nalbandyan (ARM)

AC Milan – Chelsea FC
Referee: Bram Van Driessche (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Yves De Neve (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Michael Geerolf (BEL)
Fourth Official: Matteo Marcenaro (ITA)
Referee Observer: Fritz Stuchlik (AUT)

Celtic FC – RB Leipzig
Referee: Nathan Verboomen (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Ruben Wyns (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Lennert Becquet (BEL)
Fourth Official: Scott Lambie (SCO)
Referee Observer: Hugh Dallas (SCO)

Borussia Dortmund – Sevilla FC
Referee: Luca Pairetto (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Giovanni Baccini (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Davide Imperiale (ITA)
Fourth Official: Sven Waschitzki (GER)
Referee Observer: Rene Temmink (NED)

12 October 2022
Viktoria Plzen – Bayern München
Referee: Genc Nuza (KOS)
Assistant Referee 1: Fatlum Berisha (KOS)
Assistant Referee 2: Bujar Selimaj (KOS)
Fourth Official: Ladislav Szikszay (CZE)
Referee Observer: Marian Ružbarsky (SVK)

SSC Napoli – AFC Ajax
Referee: Goga Kikacheishvili (GEO)
Assistant Referee 1: Giorgi Elikashvili (GEO)
Assistant Referee 2: Davit Akhvlediani (GEO)
Fourth Official: Gianpiero Miele (ITA)
Referee Observer: Marco Borg (MLT)

Atletico de Madrid – Club Brugge
Referee: Anastasios Papapetrou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Tryfon Petropoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Iordanis Aptosoglou (GRE)
Fourth Official: Fernando Bueno Prieto (ESP)
Referee Observer: Antonio Damato (ITA)

Bayer Leverkusen – FC Porto
Referee: Snir Levi (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Chai Chen (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Vladimir Frenkel (ISR)
Fourth Official: Patrick Alt (GER)
Referee Observer: Stefano Podeschi (SMR)

Tottenham Hotspur – Eintracht Frankfurt
Referee: Vitor Ferreira (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Costa (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Nelson Cunha (POR)
Fourth Official: David Rock (ENG)
Referee Observer: Gerard Perry (IRL)

Rangers – Liverpool
Referee: Robert Jenkins (WAL)
Assistant Referee 1: Ian Bird (WAL)
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Roberts (WAL)
Fourth Official: Calum Scott (SCO)
Referee Observer: Michal Ross (NIR)

FC Barcelona – Inter Milano
Referee: Mohammed Al-Emara (FIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Turkka Valjakka (FIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Juuso Mantere (FIN)
Fourth Official: David Lopez Jimenez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Lucilio Batista (POR)

Sporting CP – Olympique de Marseille
Referee: Christopher Jäger (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Jasmin Sabanovic (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Markus Reichholf (AUT)
Fourth Official: Flavio Dinis Lima (POR)
Referee Observer: Bernardino Gonzalez Vazquez (ESP)

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Qualifiers – UEFA Play-offs (Round 2)

11 October 2022

Portugal – Iceland
Referee: Stephanie Frappart (FRA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Manuela Nicolosi (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Camille Soriano (FRA)
Fourth Official: Lorraine Watson (SCO)
VAR: François Letexier (FRA)
AVAR: Pierre Gaillouste (FRA)
Referee Assessor: Anja Kunick (GER)

Switzerland – Wales
Referee: Tess Olofsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Karolin Kaivoja (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Polyxeni Irodotou (CYP)
Fourth Official: Ivana Projkovska (MKD)
VAR: Jochem Kamphuis (NED)
AVAR: Ella De Vries (BEL)
Referee Assessor: Elke Günther (GER)

Scotland – Ireland
Referee: Esther Staubli (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Susanne Küng (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Katrin Rafalski (GER)
Fourth Official: Riem Hussein (GER)
VAR: Maurizio Mariani (ITA)
AVAR: Daniele Chiffi (ITA)
Referee Assessor: Sofia Karagiorgi (CYP)

FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024 Qualifiers (UEFA) – Main Round (Matchday 2)

5-8 October 2022

Portugal – Belarus
Referee 1: Juan Cordero Gallardo (ESP, photo)
Referee 2: Alejandro Martinez Flores (ESP, photo)
Third Referee: Pablo Delgado Sastre (ESP)
Timekeeper: Cristiano Santos (POR)

Romania – Denmark
Referee 1: Hikmat Qafarli (AZE)
Referee 2: Knyaz Amiraslanov (AZE)
Third Referee: Ali Jabrayilov (AZE)
Timekeeper: Laurentiu Pentek (ROU)

Norway – Serbia
Referee 1: Vlad Ciobanu (ROU)
Referee 2: Bogdan Hanceariuc (ROU)
Third Referee: Liviu Chita (ROU)
Timekeeper: Dag Tangvik (NOR)

Latvia – Germany
Referee 1: Admir Zahovič (SVN)
Referee 2: Aleš Mocnik Peric (SVN)
Third Referee: Dejan Veselic (SVN)
Timekeeper: Kiazo Leladze (LVA)

Belgium – Austria
Referee 1: Grigori Ošomkov (EST)
Referee 2: Jagnar Jakobson (EST)
Third Referee: Arman Alaberkyan (ARM)
Timekeeper: Jiri Bergs (BEL)

Sweden – North Macedonia
Referee 1: Petar Radojcic (SRB)
Referee 2: Nebojsa Panic (SRB)
Third Referee: Nikola Rabrenović (SRB)
Timekeeper: Joseph Matti (SWE)

Azerbaijan – Poland
Referee 1: Aslan Galayev (KAZ)
Referee 2: Talgat Kosmukhambetov (KAZ)
Third Referee: Turekhan Tursumbayev (KAZ)
Timekeeper: Reza Mammadov (AZE)

Ukraine – Kosovo
Referee 1: Šarunas Tamulynas (LTU)
Referee 2: Dominykas Norkus (LTU)
Third Referee: Mantas Pomeckis (LTU)
Timekeeper: Kiazo Leladze (LVA)

Croatia – Hungary
Referee 1: Miguel Castilho (POR)
Referee 2: Ruben Santos (POR)
Third Referee: Felipe Duarte (POR)
Timekeeper: Mislav Džeko (CRO)

Kazakhstan – Slovenia
Referee 1: Kamil Çetin (TUR)
Referee 2: Ozan Soykan (TUR)
Third Referee: Ugur Cakmak (TUR)
Timekeeper: Timur Tursumbayev (KAZ)

Armenia – Czechia
Referee 1: Michael Christofides (CYP)
Referee 2: Nicolas Nicolaou (CYP)
Third Referee: Georgios Kozakos (CYP)
Timekeeper: Mihran Kudoyan (ARM)

Moldova – Cyprus
Referee 1: Lukaš Peško (SVK)
Referee 2: Rastislav Behancin (SVK)
Third Referee: Martin Matula (SVK)
Timekeeper: Igor Soltanici (MDA)

Georgia – Belgium
Referee 1: Josip Barton (MKD)
Referee 2: Marjan Mladenovski (MKD)
Third Referee: Done Ristovski (MKD)
Timekeeper: Zviad Bliadze (GEO)

Slovakia – Latvia
Referee 1: Marc Birkett (ENG)
Referee 2: Peter Nurse (ENG)
Third Referee: David Berry (IRL)
Timekeeper: Ladislav Angyal (SVK)

France – Norway
Referee 1: Gabor Kovacs (HUN)
Referee 2: Norbert Szilagyi (HUN)
Third Referee: Peter Zimonyi (HUN)
Timekeeper: Aurelien Uzan (FRA)

Concacaf League 2022 – Semi-finals (First Leg)

4-5 October 2022

Real Espana – LD Alajuelense
Referee: Cesar Ramos (MEX, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Alberto Morin (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Miguel Hernandez (MEX)
Fourth Official: Marco Ortiz (MEX)

FC Motagua – CD Olimpia
Referee: Mario Escobar (GUA)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Mora (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Caleb Wales (TRI)
Fourth Official: Walter Lopez (GUA)

UEFA Champions League 2022/2023 – Group Stage (Matchday 3)

4 October 2022

Bayern München – Viktoria Plzen
Referee: Nicola Dabanovic (MNE, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Djukić (MNE)
Assistant Referee 2: Vladan Todorović (MNE)
Fourth Official: Lazar Lukić (SRB)
VAR: Juan Martinez Munuera (ESP)
AVAR: Alejandro Hernandez (ESP)
Referee Observer: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)

Olympique Marseille – Sporting CP
Referee: Davide Massa (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefano Alassio (ITA)
Fourth Official: Davide Ghersini (ITA)
VAR: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
AVAR: Daniele Doveri (ITA)
Referee Observer: Costas Kapitanis (CYP)

Liverpool – Rangers
Referee: Clement Turpin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Fourth Official: Ruddy Buquet (FRA)
VAR: Jerome Brisard (FRA)
AVAR: Willy Delajod (FRA)
Referee Observer: Peter Sippel (GER)

Ajax – SSC Napoli
Referee: François Letexier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Cyril Mugnier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Mehdi Rahmouni (FRA)
Fourth Official: Jeremy Stinat (FRA)
VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL)
AVAR: Benoit Millot (FRA)
Referee Observer: Tomasz Mikulski (POL)

FC Porto – Bayer Leverkusen
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Lee Betts (ENG)
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley (ENG)
VAR: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
AVAR: Fedayi San (SUI)
Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (GRE)

Club Brugge – Atletico Madrid
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vasile Marinescu (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Ovidiu Artene (ROU)
Fourth Official: Horatiu Fesnic (ROU)
VAR: Bastian Dankert (GER)
AVAR: Marco Ftiz (GER)
Referee Observer: Drago Kos (SVN)

Inter Milano – FC Barcelona
Referee: Slavko Vincic (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaz Klancnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Andraz Kovacic (SVN)
Fourth Official: Rade Obenovic (SVN)
VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
AVAR Dennis Higler (NED)
Referee Observer: Marinus Koopman (NED)

Eintracht Frankfurt – Tottenham
Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Ciro Carbone (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)
Fourth Official: Rosario Abisso (ITA)
VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
AVAR: Marco Di Bello (ITA)
Referee Observer: Alexandru Deaconu (ROU)

5 October 2022
FC Salzburg – Dinamo Zagreb
Referee: Andris Treimanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Haralds Gudermanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksejs Spasjoņņikovs (LVA)
Fourth Official: Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA)
VAR: Tiago Martins (POR)
AVAR: Benoît Millot (FRA)
Referee Observer: Raymond Ellingham (WAL)

Leipzig – Celtic
Referee: Espen Eskas (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Engan (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Isaak Bashevkin (NOR)
Fourth Official: Svein Moen (NOR)
VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL)
AVAR: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Referee Observer: Vladimir Sajn (SVN)

Chelsea – AC Milan
Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Hessel Steegstra (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan de Vries (NED)
Fourth Official: Allard Lindhout (NED)
VAR: Dennis Higler (NED)
AVAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Referee Observer: Konrad Plautz (AUT)

Real Madrid – Shakhtar Donetsk
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Branislav Hancko (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Pozor (SVK)
Fourth Official: Peter Kralović (SVK)
VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
AVAR: Ovidiu Haţegan (ROU)
Referee Observer: Jan Wegereef (NED)

Manchester City – Copenhagen
Referee: Donatas Rumšas (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Aleksandr Radius (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Dovydas Sužiedėlis (LTU)
Fourth Official: Manfredas Lukjančukas (LTU)
VAR: Bastian Dankert (GER)
AVAR: Willy Delajod (FRA)
Referee Observer: Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP)

Sevilla – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniele Bindoni (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni (ITA)
Fourth Official: Livio Marinelli (ITA)
VAR: Marco Di Bello (ITA)
AVAR: Jerôme Brisard (FRA)
Referee Observer: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)

Juventus – Maccabi Haifa
Referee: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Stephane De Almeida (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Bekim Zogaj (SUI)
Fourth Official: Alain Bieri (SUI)
VAR: Marco Fritz (GER)
AVAR: Fedayi San (SUI)
Referee Observer: Lutz-Michael Fröhlich (GER)

Benfica – Paris St. Germain
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Diego Barbero Sevilla (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Angel Nevado Rodriguez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Miguel Ortiz Arias (ESP)
VAR: Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez (ESP)
AVAR: Juan Martinez Munuera (ESP)
Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović (SRB)

The Miracle of Bern

The first English referee to officiate a World Cup final was William 'Bill' Ling (1908-1984) in Bern, 1954. In a match that became known as 'the Miracle of Bern', Ling was embroiled in controversy for ruling out a tie at the end of the game. The match was billed as a miracle after West Germany, making its first World Cup appearance since the war, beat the best team in the world at the time, Hungary.

Hungary was undefeated for 32 matches in the last four years. In fact, over a period of six years they only lost one match, and it was this one. Hungary took a two-goal lead in the first ten minutes. But the West Germans came back to level things up before the game reached 20 minutes. With six minutes to go, Helmut Rahn gave West Germany a surprising lead. Almost immediately, the Hungarians returned. Puskas equalized with two minutes to go, and it looked like the match would go into extra time. Ling initially signaled the goal. But then South Wales linesman Benjamin Mervyn 'Sandy' Griffiths raised the flag for offside. “He was never offside. Never!" Wrote Ralph Finn, one of the few English journalists watching from the press box. Ling sided with his teammate. The Hungarians surrounded him, stunned by the decision made worse when he seemed to change his mind. Television images are often grainy, but it certainly looks like Puskas was on the line when he first received the ball outside the box. There is a German defender a little bit ahead of him. Then, as the action progresses, you can see another defender in sight. The West Germans held on to make a big impact. For FIFA, the World Cup was still in its infancy, but after World War II they were determined to make it as big as the Olympics. For the second tournament in a row, they had a surprising winner, which ensured that the competition filled many columns around the world. Late in the game, Ling was reported to have been beaten by the Hungarian goalkeeper, Gyula Grosics. The dream of the Hungarians was over. They would go down in history as one of the best teams to never win the World Cup. Ling, Griffiths and the other linesman, Italy's Vincenzo Orlandini, officiated a match that later had huge ramifications for the fortunes of both nations, good for Germany and not so much for Hungary.

Born in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, Ling quickly rose through the ranks as a referee. He was selected to officiate during the 1948 Olympics in London. At the time he was only on the supplementary list as an official in the Football League, but after taking charge of a group and quarter-final match, he was given the responsibility of refereeing the final between Sweden and Yugoslavia. He had a good resume at the end of his career. Along with an Olympics gold medal match and the 1954 World Cup final, Ling was also in charge of the 1951 FA Cup final. Ling died in May 1984 at the age of 75. Just three days later, Toni Turek, the West German goalkeeper who conceded the 'goal' that Ling ruled out, also passed away.

Source: Football BH

Ligue 1: Will French referees be balanced again?

34 is the number of red cards distributed in Ligue 1 since the start of the season. All in just 8 matchdays of the championship. A significant figure, even more so when compared to other major European championships.

On 20 September 2022, the Technical Direction of Refereeing (DTA) took advantage of the international break to summon the coaches of the French elite league to provide some explanations concerning the sanctions given since the start of the season. Present, the coach of FC Nantes, Antoine Kombouar, has drawn a lot of positive from this exchange by noting a common desire to make efforts and move forward together. “We mentioned the large number of expulsions, like the gap between the Premier League and the L1 since the start of the season. They (the referees) had received instructions at the start of the season, in the sense of being more strict about discipline, protection of players, everything that is disputed. But when you put something in place, you should warn the actors. In the past, we had a meeting at the start of the season where they explained how they were going to referee. This time, they made the decisions without telling us. Apparently, they will be balanced again”, added the 58-year-old technician.

Source: Sports

Bizarre error by US referee Saghafi

A strange refereeing mistake took place during an international friendly on Wednesday. Colombia took on Mexico at the Levi's Stadium in California and played out an entertaining clash. Colombia, who have not qualified for the World Cup later this year, eventually came out on top in a 3-2 victory. But it wasn't the result which caught the eye. Instead, it was identified that Colombia kicked off both halves in a rarely seen error by a referee. Neither side appeared to dispute the decision at the time, but it was noticed by those watching.

And the blunder has seen US official Nima Saghafi be exposed for the rookie mistake. It is made worse by the fact that Colombia not only kicked off the match, but they then kicked off a further two times before half-time after Mexico scored twice. The South American outfit then got the game underway for the fourth time in a row at the start of the second half - making it quite remarkable that none of the players realised the error. Nevertheless, given it was a friendly match, there was little uproar given the lack of impact it had on the game. Colombia fought back in the second period to win the match 3-2 as Leeds star Luis Sinisterra's double helped them to victory. They will not be in Qatar after failing to qualify for the World Cup. But Mexico will be there and have been drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Poland.

Source: The Sun

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