• Blog,  Interviews,  world cup

    Ravshan Irmatov with fantastic Asian refereeing

    Ravshan Irmatov was the youngest referee in this World Cup in South Africa. But his age was no problem in his first big football tournament. Actually, the Uzbezkistan refree was one of the referees who surprised the World. The Fifa awarded his good performances with 5 WC matches and the semi-final between The Netherlands and Uruguay. Valdir Bicudo, blogging about refereeing for the Brazilian website Parana Online , and Jan ter Harmsel (me) interviewed him. He stayed at the referee headquarters of Kievits Kroon until the end of this World Cup and only two referees before him were allowed to officiate in five matches during one World Cup. Armando Archundia…

  • Blog,  Interviews,  world cup

    Impressive career of a Canadian assistant referee

    Héctor Vergara (Canada) is the most experienced World Cup assistant referee with 14 matches in three different World Cups. His last match at a big tournament was last Saturday, when he, Marvin Torrentera and Armando Archundia took charge of the third place final. The Dutch Referee blog spoke with him. Role: Assistant Referee Country: Canada Date of Birth: 15.12.1966 Height: 183 cm First international: Canada-Northern Ireland (22.05.1995) At the 2002 World Cup referees and assistants were not working in trio’s who worked together the whole tournament. Vergara worked with Collina, Ramos-Rizzo, Hall (2), Aquina and the third place final with Mane. In 2002 he worked with Archundia, with whom he…

  • facts and statistics,  world cup

    Facts about referees in World Cup finals

    Some more statistics about the World Cup. Fifa announced today that Howard Webb will get the final of 2010’s World Cup in South Africa. The last English referee was Jack Taylor in the match between The Netherlands and West Germany. In all 19 WC finales (including 2010) there were 4 referees from Britain. Referees in World Cup finals 2010 Howard Webb (England) 2006 Horacio Elizondo (Argentina) 2002 Pierluigi Collina (Italy) 1998 Said Belgola (Marocco) 1994 Sandor Puhl (Hungary) 1990 Edgardo Codesal Mendez (Mexico) 1986 Romualdo Arppi Filho (Brazil) 1982 Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil) 1978 Sergio Gonella (Italy) 1974 Jack Taylor (England) 1970 Rudolf Glöckner (East Germany) 1966 Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland) 1962…

  • facts and statistics,  world cup

    New and updated World Cup referee stats

    More and updated stats about the World Cup referees. Most cards this World Cup Howard Webb: 17 yellow cards (in 3 matches) Yuichi Nishimura: 15 yellows (including one second yellow card) and 1 red card (in 4 matches) Khalil Al Ghamdi: 15 yellow cards and 1 red card (in just 2 matches, so his average number of cards per match is the highest during the South Africa World Cup) Lowest average number of cards 1 by Michael Hester: 1 card in 1 match 2,66 by Ravshan Irmatov: 8 yellows in 3 matches (Saturday he’ll officiate his 4th match) 3 by Massimo Busacca: 2 yellows and 1 red in 1 match…

  • referee announcement,  world cup

    Update: 10 referees available for final

    The Fifa has reduced the referee squad in South Africa from 29 to 19 referees. Here’s the list with referees who are still in the tournament (and between brackets who are sent home). Update: Only 10 referees are still eligible for the final. Asia Irmatov Nishimura (Mohd Salleh is sent home before QF; Al Ghamdi before semi-finals) Africa Damon (Coulibaly is sent home before QF; Maillet before semi-finals) North America Archundia Rodriguez (Aguilar is sent home before QF; Batres before semi-finals) South America Pozo Ruiz (Vazquez and Larrionda are sent home before QF; Baldassi and Simon before semi-finals) Oceania No referee any more (O’Learry is sent home before QF; Hester…

  • referee announcement,  world cup

    First appointments for the WC final round

    The first referees the first matches in the knock-out stage of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa are appointed by Fifa. Match 49: Uruguay – Korea with Wolfgang Stark. Match 50: USA – Ghana with Viktor Kassai. Match 51: Germany – England with Jorge Larrionda. Match 52: Argentina – Mexico with Roberto Rosetti. Join the discussion of which referee deserves a spot in the finals on the Dutch Referee blog and read the World Cup refereeing review.

  • review,  world cup

    Review on World Cup refereeing

    The group stage of this World Cup has almost finished. The referees today where doing good. Howard Webb has a very solid performance in a crazy match. I think he’s up for a place at the final sixteen. But he’s not the only candidate. A review of World Cup refereeing 2010. The first round was good for the referees, as mentioned in the guest blog ‘Golden medal for the referees by the befriended Brazilian journalist Valdir Bicudo. But just a few hours after I published the blog there were some controversial moments in the match between USA and Slovenia. Malinese referee Koman Coulibaly disallowed a last minute goal by the…