Ioan Igna was the only Romanian referee who participated in all possible competitions at that time: World Cup, Euro, Olympic Games, World Youth Championship, European Youth Championship, European Champions Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup. In spite of these achievements, he is "only" number 2 in the all-time Romanian refereeing, after three-time World Cup referee Nicolae Rainea (1974, 1978, 1982). "I was never in a competition with Rainea. It was impossible, because we were not the same age". As a change of generations, Igna was Rainea's assistant referee at the 1983 European Champions Cup final. 34 years after his Mexico’86 World Cup, Ioan Igna is still the last referee from Romania to participate in the most important football competition.
"I started my international career with the U-18 Euro in 1980, where I did the opener and then I was an assistant in the final. Then FIFA selected me for the 1981 World Youth Championship in Australia. Here, I was appointed to the Australia - England match. It was played in Sydney, while the Queen of England was in town and we were instructed on the day of the match, for about an hour or two, how to bow in case the Queen comes to the match, but she didn't arrive". In 1986, Igna, already 46 years old, was selected for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where he refereed two matches, including the quarter-final France - Brazil. "After I refereed a very difficult match in the group stage, Germany - Scotland, Harry Cavan (NIR) and Thomas Wharton (SCO), who were in charge of the referees, asked me 'if you were to receive a bigger match, who would you like to work with as assistants?' I told them that I would prefer to have Lajos Nemeth from Hungary and Vojtech Christov from Czechoslovakia with me, and they seemed very surprised… until I told them why: the Czech spoke some Hungarian, and so did I, so it would be easier for us to understand each during the match. At that time, FIFA did not have an official language for referees. Some referees were speaking English, some French and others German. At that moment, I did not know why they asked me that, but then I found out that I was being considered for Brazil - France, in case the two teams were going to win in the Round of 16. Then, just a short time before the match, they called me again, but this time to question me in a very harsh tone. A few days before the match, after I found out that I was going to referee Brazil - France, we played football, that's what we referees used to do, and Sepp Blatter's son (FIFA General Secretary at the time) came to those games and always wanted to play with me on the team. He also brought along a friend, who was a FIFA statistician. I asked him which players are in danger of being suspended if they would get a yellow card. He told the bosses what I asked him and I was immediately called to a meeting. I told them that the stadiums are full because people come to see Platini, Tigana, Maradona, Zico, Careca, Socrates and I did not want to make a mistake by easily giving a yellow card to such a player and take him out of the next match. They started laughing and their faces relaxed. They accepted my argument. Brazil lost the match and Brazilian Joao Havelange was the FIFA president. I was told that he watched the full match again that evening and then told others: ‘Igna never made a mistake against Brazil’. Do you know what mark I got from FIFA for that match? 9.1, the highest mark in the entire tournament, and the game was declared the most beautiful match in that World Cup. It was the pinnacle of my career as a referee. On penalties, the Frenchman Bellone hit the crossbar, the ball hit the goalkeeper Carlos in the back and entered the goal. Nothing was specified in the laws, so I awarded the goal. FIFA agreed with me and introduced the "Igna rule". In addition to that legendary Brazil - France, at the '86 World Cup I refereed another game that will remain in the history of football, Germany – Scotland, which meant the duel between Franz Beckenbauer and Alex Ferguson". Why Igna didn't referee the final if the FIFA bosses were so happy? "Because there was a rule that a referee can't lead the same team twice in a World Cup. In addition, my bad luck was that Steaua Bucharest won the Champions Cup. Havelange told me in Mexico that I was the first candidate to get the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, but then I became not eligible because one of the teams was Steaua from Romania". Igna’s Euro 1988 was more controversial. "There were many discussions after the Germany - Netherlands semi-final, when I awarded that penalty to Van Basten, but I was criticized for nothing. It was a textbook penalty. I remember that I was injured that year and went to Euro '88 not fully recovered, but I did it out of pride, because it was the only competition I was missing from my record. Two years later, I missed the 1990 Coppa del Mondo because I turned 50, the age limit at that time, just 4 days before the start of the tournament".
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, during the Brazil - France match, Igna made a gesture that shocked the entire planet: he confronted Platini, the French star who was a triple holder of Ballon d’Or. Igna himself recounts: "Before the match, Platini made comments about the referees appointed to the match, saying that it is not possible to have an unknown referee because he never heard about Igna. It bothered me, so I decided to respond to him on the field. After scoring the goal that equalized the score, 1-1, I asked who scored, Platini raised his hand, but I pretended that I did not know him and made him turn around, to see his number in order to write down the scorer's number. ‘How come you don't know? Everyone knows I’m number10’, he replied, irritated, but he had to turn around, although I obviously knew he was the number 10 of France. I just wanted to give him a lesson for what he had said before the game. I also had another discussion with him later in that game, when I applied the advantage. He asked for a penalty, but I said that it wasn't a penalty since Bellone had been fouled outside the penalty area. I applied the advantage and could not penalize the original foul, as it is now. Bellone had stepped on an ice pack (the game was played at 12 noon, with 53 Celsius degrees on the ground) and lost his balance".
Ioan Igna
- FIFA World Cup Quarter-final 1986: France – Brazil
- UEFA Euro Semi-final 1988: Germany – Netherlands
- UEFA Cup Final 1987: Dundee United – IFK Goteborg
- Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles
- FIFA World Youth Championship 1981: Australia
- UEFA U-18 Euro 1980: Germany
- UEFA Champions Cup Final 1983 (as assistant referee)
- FIFA Referee from 1976 to 1990
- 209 games in the First Division
