Match officials for the 2006 FIFA World Cup were nominated by the six confederations to FIFA, who, after a series of tests in Frankfurt/Neu-Isenburg in March 2006, selected 23 referees and a support and development group of a further 5,[1] from a shortlist of 44.[2]

Kyros Vassaras of Greece and Manuel Mejuto of Spain were selected to be on the panel, but the assistants who were to make up their teams were not deemed to have reached the required standards, and so they were replaced by Roberto Rosetti and Luis Medina.[1] Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast was selected for the tournament panel, but suffered a knee injury and was removed from the list without replacement.[3] Massimo De Santis of Italy was also on the panel of 23 referees, but after he was implicated in the Serie A match-fixing allegations, he was withdrawn by the Italian Football Federation and not replaced.[4]

The 21 referees, along with their assistants and the support group, are based in Neu-Isenburg for the duration of the tournament. FIFA announces the referees selected for each fixture three days in advance of the match.[1]

Horacio Elizondo was chosen to officiate the final match, which took place in Berlin on July 9.

Refereeing teams

Below are the details of the 21 groups of match officials in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[1] For assistants, a flag is only shown if his nationality varies from that of the referee with whom he is grouped.

Most teams (consisting of a referee and two assistants) are drawn from the same nation, and all are made up of officials from the same confederation. In the first round of the tournament, officials other than from UEFA member associations only operate in groups that do not include a representative of their confederation.

Mexico is the only country with 2 referees on the panel.

For the first time at a World Cup, match officials will be equipped with microphones and earpieces so they can communicate better with each other during each game.[5] Furthermore this World Cup sees the introduction of a fifth official who can be called upon to replace an injured assistant referee. The fourth official would replace the referee..

Referee Assistants Matches Red cards Yellow cards
Egypt Essam Abd El Fatah D. Dante Mali
M. Ndoye Senegal 		Group F:  Australia vs.  Japan 0 7
Paraguay Carlos Amarilla A. Andino
M. Bernal 		Group E:  United States vs  Czech Republic
Group G:  Togo vs   Switzerland
Group H:  Tunisia vs  Ukraine 		1 18
Mexico Benito Archundia J. Ramirez
H. Vergara Canada 		Group F:  Brazil vs  Croatia
Group G:  France vs  South Korea
Group E:  Czech Republic vs  Italy
Round 2:   Switzerland vs  Ukraine
Semifinal:  Germany vs  Italy 		1 14
Switzerland Massimo Busacca F. Buragina
M. Arnet 		Group H:  Spain vs  Ukraine
Group B:  Sweden vs  England
Round 2:  Argentina vs  Mexico 		1 11
Benin Coffi Codjia C. Ntagungira Rwanda
A. Aderodjou 		Group A:  Ecuador vs  Costa Rica
Group H:  Spain vs  Saudi Arabia 		0 10
Belgium Frank De Bleeckere P. Hermans
W. Vromans 		Group C:  Argentina vs  Ivory Coast
Group F:  Croatia vs  Japan
Round 2:  England vs  Ecuador
Quarterfinal:  Italy vs  Ukraine 		0 19
Argentina Horacio Elizondo D. Garcia
R. Otero 		Group A:  Germany vs  Costa Rica
Group E:  Czech Republic vs  Ghana
Group G:  South Korea vs   Switzerland
Quarterfinal:  England vs  Portugal
Final:  Italy vs  France 		3 24
Russia Valentin Ivanov N. Golubev
E. Volnin 		Group G:  France vs   Switzerland
Group A:  Ecuador vs  Germany
Round 2:  Portugal vs  Netherlands 		4 26
Japan Toru Kamikawa Y. Hiroshima
Kim Dae Young South Korea 		Group A:  Poland vs  Ecuador
Group B:  England vs  Trinidad and Tobago
Third Place play-off:  Germany vs  Portugal 		0 14
Uruguay Jorge Larrionda W. Rial
P. Fandino 		Group D:  Angola vs  Portugal
Group E:  Italy vs  United States
Group G:  Togo vs  France
Semifinal:  Portugal vs  France 		3 15
Singapore Shamsul Maidin P. Permpanich Thailand
E. Ghuloum United Arab Emirates 		Group B:  Trinidad and Tobago vs  Sweden
Group D:  Mexico vs  Angola
Group A:  Costa Rica vs  Poland 		2 20
Spain Luis Medina Cantalejo V. Giraldez
P. Medina 		Group A:  Germany vs  Poland
Group C:  Netherlands vs  Argentina
Round 2:  Italy vs  Australia
Quarterfinal:  Brazil vs  France 		2 25
Germany Markus Merk C. Schraer
J.-H. Salver 		Group C:  Serbia and Montenegro vs  Netherlands
Group F:  Brazil vs  Australia
Group E:  Ghana vs  United States 		0 16
Slovakia Ľuboš Micheľ R. Slysko
M. Balko 		Group B:  Sweden vs  Paraguay
Group D:  Portugal vs  Mexico
Round 2:  Brazil vs  Ghana
Quarterfinal:  Germany vs  Argentina 		3 32
England Graham Poll P. Sharp
G. Turner 		Group G:  South Korea vs  Togo
Group H:  Saudi Arabia vs  Ukraine
Group F:  Croatia vs  Australia 		4 20
France Eric Poulat L. Dagorne
V. Texier 		Group D:  Portugal vs  Iran
Group F:  Japan vs  Brazil 		0 9
Mexico Marco Rodríguez J. Camargo
L. Leal Costa Rica 		Group B:  England vs  Paraguay
Group C:  Ivory Coast vs  Serbia and Montenegro 		2 12
Italy Roberto Rosetti C. Copelli
A. Stagnoli 		Group D:  Mexico vs  Iran
Group C:  Argentina vs  Serbia and Montenegro
Group B:  Paraguay vs  Trinidad and Tobago
Round 2:  Spain vs  France 		1 15
Colombia Oscar Ruiz F. Tamayo Ecuador
J. Navia 		Group C:  Netherlands vs  Ivory Coast 0 7
Australia Mark Shield N. Gibson
B. Wilson 		Group H:  Tunisia vs  Saudi Arabia
Group D:  Iran vs  Angola 		0 10
Brazil Carlos Simon A. Tavares
E. Corona 		Group E:  Italy vs  Ghana
Group H:  Spain vs  Tunisia
Round 2:  Germany vs  Sweden 		1 18

Support officials

Five teams of officials were named to be on standby in the case of injury to any of the officials nominated for a match. None of them were called upon, however, and from the quarter-finals onwards, referees from among the 12 retained for the latter stages of the tournament were given standby appointments to matches.

Referee Assistant
Saudi Arabia Khalil Al Ghamdi H. Al Kadri Syria
F. Rabati Jordan
Chile Carlos Chandia C. Julio
R. Gonzalez
South Africa Jerome Damon E. Molefe
J. Yeboah Ghana
Morocco Mohamed Guezzaz B. Djezzar Algeria
J. Endeng Zogo Cameroon
United States Kevin Stott C. Strickland United States
G. Barkey United States

Final Match Officials

On Wednesday 28th of June, one day after the Second Round matches were completed and two days before the Quarterfinals, the FIFA announced the 12 referees that were retained for the remaining matches.[6] This is the standard process, meant to ensure only the best referees are in charge of the final few games. The twelve are:

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d "23 referees from 21 countries". Archived from the original on 2006-06-30. Retrieved 2006-06-19.
  2. ^ "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany List of Candidate Referees" (PDF). 2005-10-28. Archived from the original (PDF format) on 2006-05-07. Retrieved 2006-06-19.
  3. ^ "Referee Peter Prendergast out of 2006 FIFA World Cup". 2006-05-29. Archived from the original on 27 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
  4. ^ Notes from a round table event with the FIFA President
  5. ^ "World-Referees happy clampdown on fouls has worked". 2006-06-16. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  6. ^ "Ref Poll sent home from World Cup". BBC News. 2006-06-28. Archived from the original on 26 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
  7. ^ "soccernet.espn.go.com". Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
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