Fifa will be releasing awards on the 7th of January for the best player (Ballon d’Or), best coach, most beautiful goal, a lifetime achievement and fair play.

Fifa Ballon d’Or award for best player.
In the end the worth reading blog World Of Football Refereeing elected Cuneyt Cakir as referee of 2012. Their verdict: “Çakır’s semifinal appearance in UEFA Champions League (FC Barcelona – Chelsea), at EURO 2012 having been one of the best officials of the tournament and finally his FIFA Club World Cup final were reasons enough for the majority to vote for him.”
Yes, he’s a very good referee. Can’t argue with that. But the referee who surprised me the most was Jonas Eriksson during the European Championship match between The Netherlands and Germany. I don’t remember the full match or specific details (yes, the Dutch lost – don’t remind me of that), but I really liked the way Eriksson let the players do their job, sometimes with much effort to get the ball. Loved that. He’s my referee of 2012.
Who is your referee of the year 2012? Or what is the best performance you’ve seen? And why?
Referee of the year 2012 in my eyes a choose to Felix Brych our Paolo Tagliavento !!
Damir Skomina
Rok, see previous post. Might be interesting to interview him for my blog. Will try this weekend to reach him or the FA. I’ll let you know if he’s available.
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Absolutely, Eriksson’s performance in NED-GER was one of the best EURO performances. Unfortunately, Johannesson made this misevaluation dive/penalty in the Swedish team’s 2nd match. I also liked Brych in Chelsea-Barcelona, Velasco Carballo in Napoli-Chelsea and Kuipers in Barca-Milan. The referee with the biggest progress in 2012 (Cakir was already reaching top in 2011) is indeed Damir Skomina and I predict a “battle” for Wembley final between Skomina and Cakir.
RT @dutchreferee: Fifa Ballon d’Or: Who’s your referee of 2012? by Dutch Referee Blog http://t.co/jPvdQqMB Please comment.
Cüneyt Cakir
lol I had written his name before I read the article.
Damir Skomina has impressed me most in 2012. However, a big shout out to WIlmar Roldán as well. I felt he performed excellently in his matches at the Olympics. Unfortunately I haven’t seen the Copa Libertadores final with him in charge, but the mere fact he was appointed must count for something!
Yes it would be great to se an interview of him. He is a great referee and what I can hear also a good person.
Rok, will do my best. Would be good to read about his WC 2012 preparations.
Also for Cakir by the way, József. Thanks for your reply.
Maybe not so known or does not appear all the time in your tv but Colombian Wilmar Roldan had an excellent year, I think that if he is European he would win the price…
@ Arbitro Internationl: Got someone on Twitter who named. Officiated the Copa Libertadores final? Will try to contact him too. Would be a good idea for next year to interview world’s top referees on their way to the 2014 World Cup.
Got someone on Twitter who named him. Officiated the Copa Libertadores final? Will try to contact him too. Would be a good idea for next year to interview world’s top referees on their way to the 2014 World Cup.
Yes the second leg between Corinthians and Boca Juniors would be great to have an interview of him (I could also help you with other Colombian refs if you want(
That would be nice. For non-Spanish speaking persons, it’s difficult to arrange things in South-America. Can’t read everything, so it’s difficult to find the right people to contact.
Just tell how I can help….
Will send you a private message via your FB page. You can also contact me via dutchreferee at gmail.com
You have me on your contact list already on google talk 🙂