Damir Skomina is our 2017 Referee of the Year

Slovenian UEFA Elite Damir Skomina has been elected as 2017 Referee of the Year by our blog's readers. 

Law 5 - The Referee - Referee of the Year 2017

The last major tournament  of 2017, FIFA Club World Cup, has ended. Time for voting the best referee of the year has come. This is the first time for Law 5 - The Referee, and of course everything it's up to you. 

Please find and download the file attached below. 

You are invited to write down a list of 15 referees from all confederations.
The referees will get points according to the following pattern:
1) 10 points
2) 8 points
3) 7 points
4) 6 points
5) 5 points
6) 4 points
7) 3 points
8) 2 points
from 9) to 15) 1 point.
Then, the resulting ranking will be published.
You can try to find a mix between good performances and appointments. Personally, I would preferer good / very good performances over good / very good appointments, but of course at high level it is impossible to consider both things as clearly separated. 

At least one referee from each confederation must be there (not mandatory for OFC).

You can't add more than ten referees from a single confederation (for example, no more than 10 referees from UEFA).

Once finished, you can send the document to our mail law5blog[at]gmail.com. 

Alternatively, if you can't manage to download or compile the file, you can send your list of 15 referees as normal text via mail. 

All the incorrectly filled lists wont be taken into account. 

Votes will end on 25/12/2017 00:00 CET. After that deadline, mails wont be accepted. Results will be published a few days later on the blog. 

Thanks in advance for your interest and participation. 

César Ramos in charge of 2017 FIFA Club World Cup final

Mexican César Ramos has been appointed by FIFA to handle the final of 2017 FIFA Club World Cup, involving Real Madrid and Grêmio. Malang Diedhiou from Senegal will be in charge of Third Place's Game. 

UEFA Referee Categories for the second half of the season 2017/18 (Updated: Men, Women, Futsal)

Thank to our reader RayHD, (h_demboveac on Twitter)  these are the new categories for UEFA referees, valid from 01/01/2018 until 30/06/2018.  

Both English Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver have been promoted to Elite, while Andreas Ekberg from  Sweden has joined Category 1, replacing his countryman Stefan Johannesson, who retired from the list. We can expect more changes on next update, on June 2018.


Elite

Atkinson, Aytekin, Brych, Çakır, Collum, Eriksson, Fernández Borbalán, Hațegan, Karasov, Kassai, Královec, Kuipers, Makkelie, Marciniak, Mateu Lahoz, Mažić, Oliver*, Orsato, Rocchi, Sidirópoulos, Skomina, Taylor*, Turpin, Undiano Mallenco, Zwayer

Category 1

Aranovsʹkyy, Banti, Bastien, Beaton, Bebek, Bezborodov, Blom, Bognár, Boyko, Buquet, del Cerro Grande, Delférière, Drachta, Ekberg*, Estrada Fernández, Evans, Gestranius, Gil, Gil Manzano, Göçek, Gözübüyük, Gräfe, Grinfeld, Jug, Kehlet, Kovács, Kružliak, Kulbakou, Lechner, Liani, Madden, Mažeika, Mazzoleni, Moen, Nijhuis, Özkahya, Pisani, Raczkowski, Schörgenhofer, Soares Dias, Sousa, Stavrev, Stefański, Stieler, Strömbergsson, Treimanis, Vad, Vinčič, Welz, Yes'kov, Zelinka

Category 2

Abed**, Ağayev, Ardeleánu, Árnason, Attwell**, Avram, Bieri, Boucaut, Brisard**, Clancy, Colțescu, Dabanović, Dallas, Dankert, de Burgos Bengoetxea**, Delerue, Di Bello**, Dingert, Doveri**, Doyle, Farkas, Frankowski, Fritz, Guida, Hansen, Harkam, Hernández Hernández, Hunter, Irrati, Ivanov, Jaccottet, Jorgji, Jovanović, Jović, Kabakov, Kalkavan, Kalogerópoulos, Klossner, Komínis, Kráľovič, Kristoffersen, Kuchin, Lapochkin, Lardot, Letexier, Martins, Madley, Martínez Munuera, Massa, Mečkarovski, Meshkov, Miguel, Millot, Munukka, Nevalainen, Nilsen, Palabıyık, Pandžić, Pawson, Peljto, Petrescu, Popov, Rainville, Reinshreiber, Sánchez Martínez, Sant, Schärer, Schneider, Schüttengruber, Shmuelevitz, Siebert, Stoyanov, Tierney**, Tohver, Trattou, Tsynkevich, Tykgaard, Valeri, van Boekel, Vertenten, Xistra

Category 3

á Høvdanum**, Al-Hakim, Aliyev, Andó-Szabó, Anufrijevs, Apostolov, Aretópoulos, Atazhanov, Balakin, Baliyan, Banari, Barbeno, Barcelo, Branco Godinho, Burchardt, Chinkov**, Christofí**, Costa Veríssimo, Dimitríou, do Nascimento Teixeira, Đokić, Durieux, Eskås, Farrugia Cann, Feșnic, Frid**, Frischer, Găman, Glova, Golubevs, Griffith, Grujić**, Hagenes**, Hamiti**, Harvey, Həsənov, Hennessy, Higler, Hjaltalín, Hovhannisyan, Jäger**, Jakimovski, Jakubik, Järvinen, Kajtazovič**, Kaluđerović, Karakó, Karlsson**, Kasumi**, Kennedy, Kjærsgaard, Kopriwa, Kozyk**, Kristjánsson**, Kruashvili, Kryvonosov**, Kvirikashvili**, Laforge, Lambrechts, Levnikov, Lukjančukas, Maae, Mántalos, Marhefka, Markham-Jones, Marshall, Masiás, Matyunin, McLaughlin, McNabb, Meler, Milačić**, Muntean, Musiał, Nikolić, Nuza, Nyberg, Obrenovič, Očenáš, Orel, Pajač**, Papadópoulos**, Papapétrou, Papir, Paşayev, Pejin, Petrović**, Pires Martins**, Poulsen, Příhoda, Proske, Robertson, Romanov**, Rumšas, Saggi**, Sakhi, San, Santos Capela, Schnyder**, Šehović**, Shcharbakou, Shurman**, Silva Pinheiro, Steen, Strukan, Tarajev, Tean, Þórarinsson, Todorov, Troleis, Tschudi**, Ulusoy, Vadachkoria, Viljanen**, Vilkov, Visser, Walsh, Weinberger**, Xhaja**, Zammit, Zebec

* = Re-categorised
** = New on FIFA list

Here you can find the PDF documents with the new categories. Thank again to RayHD.

2017 FIFA Club World Cup - Referee Appointments

Appointments of match officials at 2017 FIFA Club World Cup, in United Arab Emirates.

2018 FIFA WC - Predictions About Match Officials - Results

These are the results of the polls about your predictions for WC 2018. 

Europa League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 6

UEFA Referees Committee has appointed the following officials to handle MD6 games of 2017/18 Europa League group stage. 

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 6 (II)

This is the last set of appointments for 2017-18 Champions League Group Stage, games to be played on 6 December 2017. 

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 6 (I)

The following officials have been appointed by UEFA Referees Committee to handle Tuesday's matches of Matchday 6 in 2017-18 Champions League Group Stage. 

2018 FIFA WC - Predictions About Match Officials - Make Your Choice

FIFA has released an early list of selected officials for WC 2018. They have attended a course in Adu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to prepare the WC. The list includes both main and reserve referees. Now it's your turn to make some choices.

FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 - Selected Officials

Thank to our source Árbitro Internacional we are proud to announce the officials selected by FIFA for the next World Cup in Russia. 

Europa League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 5

These are the appointments for MD5 of 2017-18 UEFA Europa League. 

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 5 (II)

These referees will complete the appointments for MD5 of 2017/18 Champions League group stage. Dutch Björn Kuipers will officiate Atlético Madrid - Roma in group C.

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 5 (I)

These are the officials in charge of Tuesday's games of 2017/18 Champions League group stage MD5. Among others, French Clément Turpin will officiate the clash between Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur in group H.

2018 FIFA WC - Predictions About Match Officials

The process of preselection for referees on the road to WC 2018 is coming to an end. Qualifiers have finished as well. So, now it's time to make the final predictions about the list of officials who will attend the WC on next year in Russia.

Refereeing at UEFA play-offs for 2018 WC Qualification

I want to present a short analysis about the level of refereeing at UEFA play-offs for 2018 WC Qualification. Your opinions are of course welcome. 

2018 FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Playoffs - Referee appointments

Thank to our source Árbitro Internacional we have the officials appointments for 2018 FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Playoffs, to be played on November. 

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification - Referee appointments for UEFA Playoffs (Second Legs)

The following officials have been appointed to handle second legs of UEFA playoffs for 2018 WC qualification. 

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification - Referee appointments for UEFA Playoffs (First Legs)

The following officials have been appointed to handle UEFA playoffs for 2018 WC qualification. 

Referee appointments for international friendlies - November 2017

Many international friendly games are about to be played on next days. If you have some appointments, don't hesitate to inform us. 

Europa League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 4

UEFA Referees Committee has chosen the following referees to handle MD4 of 2017/18 Europa League group stage. 

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 4 (II)

Referee appointments for 2017/18 Champions League group stage MD4, games to be played on Wednesday 01.11.2017.  German Felix Brych will handle the crucial clash between SSC Napoli and Manchester City, while Ivan Kružliak from Slovakia will make his debut in CL group stage.

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 4 (I)

UEFA has selected the following officials to handle Tuesday's games of 2017/18 Champions League group stage MD4. Among others, Swedish Jonas Eriksson will be in charge of Roma - Chelsea in group C. 

Enrique Cáceres in charge of FIFA U17 WC final

Paraguay's Enrique Cáceres has been appointed by FIFA referees committee to handle the final of 2017 Under 17 World Cup, to be played on Saturday in Kolkata between England and Spain.

FIFA Club World Cup 2017 United Arab Emirates - Referees

Thank to our source Árbitro Internacional we are proud to announce the officials selected by FIFA for 2017 CWC, to be played in UAE on December. Six officiating trios and eight video assistant referees have been chosen.

FIFA Under-17 World Cup India 2017 - Semifinals - Referee Appointments

Ovidiu Alin Haţegan and Ryuji Sato have been appointed to handle FIFA U17 WC semifinals. 

FIFA Under-17 World Cup India 2017 - Quarterfinals - Referee Appointments

Referees in charge of quarterfinals at FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017.

Europa League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 3

UEFA Referees Committee has chosen the following referees to handle MD3 of 2017/18 Europa League group stage. 

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 3 (II)

The following officials will complete the appointments for MD3 of 2017/18 Champions League group stage.

Champions League 2017/18 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 3 (I)

UEFA has chosen these officials to referee Tuesday's clashes of 2017/18 Champions League group stage MD3. Among others, Polish Szymon Marciniak will be in charge of Real Madrid - Tottenham Hotspur in group H. 

Welcome, the journey begins!

Welcome to all readers of this new blog. Our aim is to create a virtual place in which we can discuss about the role and the figure of the referee, the man in the middle.

A particular attention will be paid to international appointments, as well as debates about referee's performances. analysis, videos and, last but not least, the most important part of the blog will be your presence, since most of the discussions will be possible thank to your support!
We hope to create a huge community and we also wish that you will enjoy the reading, we will try to update it as much as possible.

A first and very important recommendation: please don't share confidential appointments before they are made public by official sources.  All comments infringing this rule will be immediately deleted. 

More contents will appear on next weeks, for now I think that we can start with Champions League and Europa League appointments for this week, you can find already the posts.

Yours,
Law5-theref  Staff.