Massey promoted to the Select Group

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

Source: Eurosport

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011 – Quarter-finals

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

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

14 August 2011
France – Nigeria 

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

Brazil – Spain 

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

CONCACAF Champions League – Group Stage (I)

16 August 2011
Santos Laguna – Real Espana

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

LA Galaxy – Motagua

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

Alajuelense – Morelia

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

Seattle Sounders – Comunicaciones

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

17 August 2011
Herediano – Monterrey

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

Pumas UNAM – FC Dallas

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

Colorado Rapids – Metapan

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

18 August 2011
Tauro – Toronto FC

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

Six referees banned for life

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

Source: FIFA

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

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

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

Fourth Official: William Collum (SCO)

Proenca attacked while shopping

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

Source: Fox News

Recopa Sudamericana 2011

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

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

Friendly Matches – 10 August 2011

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


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


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

France – Chile

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


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

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


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


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


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

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

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


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

Copa Sudamericana 2011 – Round 2

9 August 2011
Universidad de Chile – Fenix

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

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

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

Atletico Mineiro – Botafogo

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

11 August 2011
The Strongest – Olimpia

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

Vasco da Gama – Palmeiras

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