Thursday 5 July 2018

17 referees, 37 assistant referees and 10 Video Assistant Referees appointed for next phase of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia

The FIFA Referees Committee has selected 17 referees, 37 assistant referees and 10 Video Assistant Referees for the final phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.


Given the number of matches left and the teams that have qualified for the next round, the number of referees has been reduced.

Appointed for the next phase are:


AFC: FAGHANI Alireza (IRN); SHUKRALLA Nawaf Abdulla (BHR)


CAF: DIEDHIOU Malang (SEN); SIKAZWE Janny (ZAM)


CONCACAF: GEIGER Mark (USA); MARRUFO Jair (USA); RAMOS PALAZUELOS Cesar Arturo (MEX)


CONMEBOL: CUNHA Andres (URU); PITANA Nestor (ARG); RICCI Sandro (BRA)


OFC: CONGER Matthew (NZL)


UEFA: CAKIR Cuneyt (TUR); KUIPERS Bjorn (NED); MATEU LAHOZ Antonio (ESP); MAZIC Milorad (SRB); ROCCHI Gianluca (ITA); SKOMINA Damir (SVN)


Video Assistant Referees


CONMEBOL: SAMPAIO Wilton (BRA); VIGLIANO Mauro (ARG)


UEFA: DANKERT Bastian (GER); DIAS SOARES Artur (POR); GIL Pawel (POL); IRRATI Massimiliano (ITA); MAKKELIE Danny (NED); ORSATO Daniele (ITA); VALERI Paolo (ITA); ZWAYER Felix (GER)


The FIFA Referees Committee would like to thank all the match officials that have been involved in the 2018 FIFA World Cup so far for their commitment and professionalism.


Source:
fifa.com

57 comments:

  1. Excellent for Conger to be retained... Will be an experience in itself!

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    1. When he didnt get second match, at least he desrved to stay till the end. He did really good job in his match

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    2. Missed a penalty. Can't say thats a good job

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    3. Great stuff from Matthew!

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  2. Wow, Gassama has to go home and strange that Vargas left the VAR list while Soares Dias is still on the list

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  3. So four assistant referees who were not tied to a crew have stayed? Because I think Zumba went home with Aguilar, right? So Marrufo is only there with one AR.

    Astroza, Lupp and ... ? Who else? It’s odd FIFA mentions the 37 figure but then does not name the officials.

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    1. Borsch and not Lupp stays in Russia.

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    2. Sorry. Correct. But who are other two?

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    3. I believe Corey Parker (US) would be one of them.

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    4. Right but Rockwell is tied to Marrufo.

      So the match is 17 referees x 2 = 34 - Zumba = 33

      There are four ARs left not tied to a referee. Borsch and Astroza are two.

      Who are the others?

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    5. Math. (Not “match”)

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  4. The case of Gassama is rather weird. FIFA seems to operate differently than CAF. 2nd WC in a row and only 1 match again.

    Can't say I am surprised by the names that left. At least performance principle was the main criterion.

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    1. I could imagine that FIFA wants to rely on experienced teams whereas Gassama's AR2 Etchiali replaced Range just for the World Cup.

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    2. Why is it weird? He missed a penalty that really should have been seen live and didn't require the VAR to see. Have you seen his game at the Confeds between NZ and Mexico. He is not a referee thats any good sorry

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  5. What about Cunha? If I am not wrong, he hasn't been appointed even as a 4th official in KO stage so far, but is still there.

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    1. Maybe he will be 4th official in a SF... And in case Uruguay isn't involved he can get the 3rd place match!

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  6. Collina and Busacca must be remplaced.

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  7. An incredible news comes from Italy: do you remember Karasev appointed for EL semifinal? Well, this was a replacement for... Rocchi.
    Rocchi was originally appointed in Salzburg and Orsato in Madrid, there were two Italian crews in EL semifinals second legs.
    But Orsato had a very poor performance in Inter - Juventus a few days before the match, therefore Collina decided to replace him.
    Then Rocchi went in Madrid and Karasev in Salzburg. The Russian was not planned for a semifinal.
    Also, before the appointment of Rocchi for Salzburg, it seems as that game was reserved to Marciniak but he had to renounce due to his physical conditions, you remember, he was not still 100% ready.

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    1. Very interesting... So, everything counts - not only performances in European competitions!
      Any news about EL final? I believe Mazic was originally planned for CL final and therefore saved, but I am sure Kuipers was not originally planned for EL final - he was surely a replacement for someone. Might be that he was replacement for...Mazic, if Skomina was planned for CL final (and Mazic for El final). But, it was lunacy to give Skomina CL semifinal return leg, if he should get final. So, for me it is more possible that Kuipers came as a replacement for someone else, but who?

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    2. So basically is the confirmation of the fact that Rocchi's performance in Real Madrid v PSG was assessed as poor!

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    4. If Rocchi was planned for the EL final, he would never be brought in for a SF... And his performance in the SF wasn't bad then why not the final after that as per potential plans? Even Kuipers got 1 CL SF followed by the final so surely wasn't impossible for Rocchi!

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    6. No absolutely not... My idea is Skomina and Mazic were the actual plans and also I believe Committee had no problems in appointing a referee for SF and Final... Skomina was poor in SF so plans had to change! Kuipers himself was on a vacation taking rest after what he thought was the completion of his European season! :D

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    8. Kuipers was not originally planned for the final, that's for sure. Remember that he was injured until March, I think.
      If he gets WC final - that would be confirmation that he is the best ref of all time. He is already in the neighborhood, very close to Collina. Would Collina go against himself?! I don't think so.

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    9. I don't know more, sorry. However I think that Kuipers was a last minute choice, given that he was injured for a long time earlier. In my opinion Marciniak was planned for EL final when KO stage started. Mazic for CL.

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    10. @Teo Just like the old Italian uncle didn't give Rizzoli the Euro final in 2016, I remember! :(

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    11. Kuipers is definitely in that neighborhood.

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  8. NEWS | Cüneyt çakır und Gianluca Rocchi pfeifen angeblich die Halbfinals beim FIFA World Cup. Damit sollten mit Alireza Faghani und Björn Kuipers auch die Finalschiedsrichter feststehen (1 und 3.)

    Source:IG Schiedsrichter FB

    ?? No confirmation/Fakenews??

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    1. What does this mean?? IG Schiedsrichter is quite a controversial site though!

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    2. Why should FIFA already have selected Kuipers for the third-place match without even having handled his quarter-final match? What, if Belgium will be part of that game?

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    3. Exactly... It's never possible! I'm sure Mr. Kuhn has read a speculation somewhere and published it as his own news as he so often does!

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    4. The translation is "Cuneyt Cakir and Gianluca Rocchi will allegedly handle the semifinals at the World Cup. This should mean, that Faghani and Kuipers are fixed as final referees (1.and 3.)"

      Normally, their information comes from some other place in the internet, so maybe we can find something.

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    5. Peter & Soham, you are right. I hardly believe it's true but spreading this kind of fakenews is not OK and also unfair to the readers.

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    6. Personally, I also think that three UEFA referees for the last four matches are too much - neither were the performances of the UEFA referees that outstanding nor those of the non-Europeans that under-par.

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    7. I worote that as prediction here on the blog when I read the names for quarterfinals... maybe this is the "source"? :)

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    8. So wc started with these three UEFA referees and will finish again same UEFA referees :)

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    9. @Chefren: Unfortunately very possible...

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    10. I'm from Brazil and even so I must acknowledge the fact that the top UEFA referees até ahead of the top non-UEFA refs. My premise is that level of play in Europe is currently so much higher than in the other confeds that Europeans referees must be at the same level.

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  9. Wow, Gassama sent home? Second World Cup and again just one match. Had expected him in bronze final, maybe it will go to Diedhiou now.

    And why is Geiger still there?

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  10. I think Brazil will progress past Belgium which would rule Ricci out of any further games but leaves Kuipers available assuming his QF is good. If Uruguay upset France then FIFA have free rein on that Semi and I would go for Cakir. If its France vs Brazil I would appoint Faghani or the Senegalese referee. 2nd Semi would be Cakir if he is not appointed above or Pitana or Skomina. If France come through the top half then any referee could be appointed and none of the sides in the bottom half are overly difficult to referee

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    1. Pitana better hope for the second semi because he would have already done one of the team (URU or FRA) QF.

      If Brazil is in the final then there will be no Pitana.

      This means that appointments will obviously depend on which team advances past QF's.

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  11. I agree with Chefren's view of the referees committee ... that referees must be humble and be able to change/adapt from their "old ways" of being the "top boss on the pitch". So, under the eyes of the committee did Faghani use VAR in a good way like Kuipers did in BRA-CRC? Kuipers was humble enough to use VAR.

    I believe in FRA-ARG, Faghani did not use VAR and perhaps this is an important consideration that has been overlooked by many here. I searched other sites and hkref.blogspot.com has discussed this.

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    1. Faghani didnt have any single situation in his match were he needed to use VAR. I think that only goes to his benefit

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  12. I think it helps when you know the VAR well, more confident in their judgement and involvement

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  13. They really need 17 refs for 8 matches? Wouldn't a shortlist of 12 be plenty?

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    1. In the case that those 8 matches should be handled by 8 referees and 8 (different) fourth officials, one would need 16 referees.

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    2. (And in the case that Geiger serves as VAR, even all 17 referees could be used.)

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