Saturday 15 August 2020

UEFA Referees Categories for the first part of 2020-21 season - Several promotions from Category 2 to Category 1 - Three new Women Elite

UEFA Referees Committee have computed the promotions and demotions in their category revisions of Summer 2020. 



Promotions from Category 2 to Category 1:

Lawrence Visser (BEL)
Fran Jovic (CRO)
Christopher Kavanagh (ENG)
Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP)
Jerome Brisard (FRA)
Roi Reinshreiber (ISR)
Maurizio Mariani (ITA)
Donatas Rumsas (LTU)
Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Fabio José Costa Verissimo (POR)
Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
Halil Umut Meler (TUR)

New Women Elite: 

Marta Huerta de Aza (ESP)
Tess Olofsson (SWE)
Cheryl Foster (WAL)

69 comments:

  1. Wow, I must say I am very happy with Jovic in first category, althoug I did not expect it since he still did not have debut in EL. Congratulations to all officials....

    ReplyDelete
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      Delete
  2. Interesting, that Jovic, Mariani and Nyberg are promoted without any Europa League match. Especially Mariani is promoted very quickly, probably due to his age and based on his domestic performances. The other two at least have a decent amount of games in other UEFA competitions.

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    1. For Mariani, indeed domestic performance, he had an excellent serie A season. And the disappointment is about Di Bello who had to make this step before...

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    2. I have watched Mariani performance in very difficult Serie A match: Napoli-Juventus, he was excellent and he didnt make mistake, I think He is next italian referee who will be strong elite as Rizzoli, Rocchi and Orsato. IMO Di Bello had very poor season and Guida the same, but I have said, I didnt ser Di Bello as elite referee, new fifa referee Fabrizio Maresca will achive more and maybe Fabrizio Pasquata when Orsato will retire

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    3. Just to correct you, Guida had an excellent season as well.
      Massa was a bit disappointing and indeed he didn't continue internationally what he had started on last season.

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    4. I agree, and he should be better, we will See What will be next season for Italian referee

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  3. Very happy with some of the promotions (Jović, Brisard, Rumsas, Meler) and specially Hernández Hernández, as for now he was IMO the best Spanish Second category referee along with De Burgos Bengoetxea.

    I'm a little surprised to see Nyberg from Sweden instead of Al-Hakim.

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    1. I don’t agree, Hernandez Hernandez is the worst spanish referee in Second Category, and he shouldnt be promoted the same De Burgos Bengoetxea

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    2. Al Hakim... UEFA will never forget that he went public a few years ago, although he renounced quickly...

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    3. Another scandal in Sweden, involving a first division referee with international appointments (who can it be?): https://www.actualidadarbitral.com/2020/08/condenado-por-acoso-sexual-un-arbitro.html

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    4. indeed, future of spaniards refs is a question mark, but I expect a positive performance development of Hernandez, but also De Burgos and Sanchez Martinez,,, we'll see next season

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  4. My personal compliment to Hdz Hdz !

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  5. Obrenović is a name among the referees promoted into Category 2.

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  6. Germany is the only 'big 5' nation with no promotions from Second to First

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  7. I'm waiting for official news ...

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  8. https://docdro.id/Hk0w5Jk
    PDF for Men List is ready to be downloaded.

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  9. New categories will be effective from 17 August.

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  10. Women, PDF:
    https://docdro.id/2bGRAm2

    Marta Huerta de Aza, Tess Olofsson and Cheryl Foster new UEFA Elite.

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    Replies
    1. Huerta de Aza makes sense at least for 'domestic development' - this season she became the first female central referee in 2ªB (Third Category)

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    2. Second one. First was Carolina domenech

      https://es.fifa.com/who-we-are/news/elogios-para-una-arbitro-85704

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  11. Gediminas Mazeika demoted? Did not expect it realy....

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  12. Futsal:
    https://docdro.id/vCayZ0R
    Indeed, I never saw so many changes.

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  13. 134 referees and observers from Belarus signed a letter to a football community and the head of ABFF, asking to stop violence against peaceful protesters, among them all Belarusian FIFA referees and assistant referees.

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  14. Promoted to First:

    Lawrence Visser (BEL, 1989)
    Fran Jovic (CRO, 1984)
    Christopher Kavanagh (ENG, 1985)
    Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP, 1982)
    Jérôme Brisard (FRA, 1986)
    Roi Reinshreiber (ISR, 1980)
    Maurizio Mariani (ITA, 1982)
    Donatas Rumsas (LTU, 1988)
    Bartosz Frankowski (POL, 1986)
    Fabio José Costa Verissimo (POR, 1982)
    Glenn Nyberg (SWE, 1988)
    Halil Umut Meler (TUR, 1986)


    Promoted to Second:

    Julian Weinberger (AUT, 1985)
    Erik Lambrechts (BEL, 1984)
    Volen Chinkov (BUL, 1983)
    Timotheos Christofí (CYP, 1987)
    Peter Kjaersgaard (DEN, 1984)
    Petri Viljanen (FIN, 1987)
    Kári Jóannesarson á Høvdanum (FRO, 1990)
    Ioannis Papadopoulos (GRE, 1982)
    Yigal Frid (ISR, 1992)
    Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (LAT, 1984)
    Kai Erik Steen (NOR, 1985)
    Luís Miguel Branco Godinho (POR, 1985)
    Nicholas Walsh (SCO, 1990)
    Lionel Tschudi (SUI, 1989)
    Rade Obrenović (SVN, 1990)
    Kristoffer Karlsson (SWE, 1984)

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    1. Demotions:

      To Second:

      Gediminas Mažeika (LTU, 1978)


      To Third:

      Michael Tykgaard (DEN, 1977)
      Eitan Shmuelevitz (ISR, 1978)
      Tore Hansen (NOR, 1978)

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  15. Mažeika's demotion is - forgive me - utter rubbish. I'm not saying he did not make mistakes, but 2nd category? Never.

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    1. I guess it's a card swap with Rumsas (who IMO is a talented referee and a deserved promotion). But indeed, there must be something more to be him (an U21 Euro referee just 3 years ago) and only him.

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    2. Maybe he announced retirement for the end of the year?

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    3. On the other hand, why is Kralovec still in Elite group???

      Maybe there is something I dont know, but some 1st category referees had better appointments this season.

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    4. Kralovec was injured for almost a year therefore he had only 2 matches this season. Since he was injured I think it would be unfair to demote him since his performances were solid.

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    5. Ok, I wasnt sure if it was injury or some other issue. Lets hope then that he returns to CL in good form.

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  16. Wow....my personal compliment to Rade Obrenovic ! Great ref.

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  17. I dont know why have Alejandro Hernandez promoted To First Category, he shouldnt be demoted for second category, he is one of the worst spanish referee, Ok if He often sits in VAR so Why Massimiliano Irrati wasnt promoted? He was in WC Final as main VAR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This season in La liga after corona break: Real-Villareal, Barcelona-Real, Atletico-Sevilla, Mallorca-Atletico...

      These are the games for the worst referee?!

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    2. But how did he perform in those matches? Just because the CTA is obsessed with him...

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    3. In El-Clasico He made a lot of crucial mistakes But Ok on Every El-Clasico he made a lot of crucial mistake vith VAR :) in Atletico-Barcelona the same, he didnt see foul, he is chaotic, IMO In Spain when Del Cero Grande and Matheu Lahoz will retire, we dont have profesional and elite referee( maybe Gil Manzano)

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  18. Congratulations to Lawrence Visser and Erik Lambrechts! Belgian referees are not as weak to be listed only in 2nd and 3rd category. Indeed there was a huge generation change and the newcomers had to gain experience but it's about time to promote the biggest talents like Visser, Lambrechts, Van Driessche, Laforge, Lardot, Verboomen and so on.

    The current generation of Belgian referees is extremely talented and under the eye of Bertrand Layec and Frank De Bleeckere they can only further develop their skills and become a real power in UEFA refereeing, e.g having several names in elite and 1st category.

    My best wishes to Belgian Refereeing Community! Mr Layec, Mr De Bleeckere, keep up doing great job!

    Below you can find the appointments for the following matchday:
    https://belgianfootball.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/rbfa/docs/pdf/arbitrage/aanduidingen_designations/aanduidingen_designations_JPL2021_matchday2.pdf

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    1. Nice to have insights from Belgium. Indeed, I think that it is a very important country and it is surprising that in recent seasons there hasn't been a referee at high level in UEFA.
      Of course the bad story about fixed games played a role but I'm sure Belgian referees will be back at the top in UEFA competitions. De Bleeckere has been among the best UEFA referees ever, hopefully somebody will follow him.

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  19. Wow I'm astonished to read categories' review after this COVID season. I was expecting no changes until the end of year due to stop activity and I think that Isn't fair to promote or demote referees without international matches just on domestic performance.
    On single names I see a scandal the demotion of Mazeika, I don't understand why Irrati, considered as the best VAR is still in 2nd and I'm happy too see so many progress on belgian referees

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  20. Christopher Kavanagh beat Paul Teiney and Stuart Attwell to promotion.. that is suprising but deserved... Did he officiate any Europa League match this season? Because Stuart and Paul made thier debut.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Kavanagh had his debut in Eindhoven - LASK in October.

      BTW, Attwell had his EL debut already in 2011 during his first international period.

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  21. I don't understand the demotion of Mazeika. I liked him as a referee. He did not deserve that.
    Also, of the ones with debut, Higler did not nake it.

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    Replies
    1. All demotions from First to Second and Second to Third were in fact referees switched based on each country's quota per category.

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  22. Sometimes I can't understand some decisions by UEFA Ref Committee. And honestly they seem politically driven.

    For example. Poland has a 4th 1st Group referee. Plus Marciniak on the Elite Group. Couldn't they swap Frankowski with Gil or Stefanski? Of course they could.

    Croatia gets a 2nd First Group referee after Bebek. Nothing against Jovic but is it logical to promote someone who was suspended on his league for over a month?

    Mazeika is the only 1st Group demoted. Were his performances so bad compared to others? I don't think so.

    Finally a remark about Greece. I am happy about Papadopoulos promotion (I consider him a good referee) but really surprised to see Papapetrou still in 2nd Group. He is perhaps the only Greek referee, aside from Sidiropoulos, who is frequently appointed by UEFA (he even got a UYL QF) but he is still in 2nd Group.
    I believe that this is the result of Melo Pereira's presence in Greece. No development of Greek referees and most of them are quite old of UEFA's standards (see Tzilos, Skoulas, Diamantopoulos).

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    1. Kominis is still there in spite of his removal from the Superleague? Or was that decision changed?

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    2. If he is a FIFA referee, he has to be included in the list in all cases!

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    3. Unless Clattenburg decides to make his own lists (which is highly unlikely) Kominis is out. So logically UEFA should remove him.

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    4. @Chefren: that is incorrect. Sousa (POR) ended his career last month and was removed by UEFA. So, if Kominis is indeed out, he should also be removed.

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    5. New team arriving in Greece now

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  23. Some observations about the choices by committee.
    Differently from the past, there is a clear signal that now UEFA is working in a very close cooperation with national associations, regarding referees to be promoted. I can deduce that from the promotion of Mariani, he didn't the EL GS group on last season, but he achieved this very important step now. This means that UEFA committee is not "fossilized" while making choices. Di Bello didn't convince, but despite of his EL debut, he wasn't promoted. Also, it seems as the speech about referees from "major" federations is different than the others, they don't need to be tested so much because the level of footbal in their nations is high.
    In past we had situations in which while UEFA was trying to put in focus a referee, the national association had maybe a contrary idea on him. This now seems absolutely very difficult to happen.

    About Hernández Hernández: I thought that his chances were almost over because I expected a promotion before, but yes, he is still not so much old, and, at the same time, let me say I was never convinced by De Burgos who could have been his "opponent". So, very good choice. Who will be Hernández Hernández VAR in his UEFA games?
    BTW Let me also add, I don't like some comments on the blog when you write "absolutely not deserved, he is not good referee... and all that stuff." How many games did you watch about a referee from another nation? I think it is difficult to say that you saw many games, so before any judgment one should watch carefully. I saw that he got several El Clasico, so there should be a reason behind that, we will see how he will perform in UEFA.

    About Mazeika, as there has been a big discussion: I think that basically he didn't convince committee in making the big step to Elite category, due to some mistakes made in crucial games, but in my opinion in normal conditions he wouldn't have been demoted. We see referees with so many mistakes (even Elite) and they are still there. For sure the reason of demotion is that Lithuania can't have two spots in Category 1, so, once promoted Rumsas (I wish him an excellent career), Mazeika had to leave. Last but not least, I wouldn't say that he is old but for sure not that young, so it is also possible that he has different plans for the future. In any case, it has been a disappointment because he could have achieved definitely more.

    On next days, we could discuss about a list of referees who could get the debut in Champions League group stage, based on these new changes, it will be very interesting for sure. More difficult to write down the ones about to make it in Europa League, as there wont be VAR, this is still open to many and many alternatives!

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    1. Regarding CL debuts, I think, we won't see many in this season. IMO, it's more important now to develop those, who already had their debuts and give them more than one match (Ekberg, Gözübüyük, Siebert, Guida,...).
      My first guess for a CL debut would be Sanchez Martinez.

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    2. He got all of those appointments but his performance was literally controversial (read poor) in both of them. Laliga’s obsession with him is inexplicable. Just check the appointments Lahoz (and Mallenco for that matter) got in the same period w/ Lahoz being Spain’s number one. Controversy follows the canarian referee everywhere he goes.

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    3. Hernández Hernández deserved his promotion. Both his appearances at a UEFA level in NL / EL were very good. Last time I watched him in a Primera match (Atlético - Sevilla match) he managed the game really well [https://ok.ru/video/1973664156268].

      So as Chefren, I don't really understand all these comments criticising him...

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    4. Even a broken clock is right twice... If you're only citing one performance to justify this promotion..... But we know Uefa needs their Spanish referees so they're going force them down our throats even if they are godawful more often than not. NOT CONSISTENT---(or at least consistently bad)

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  24. Regarding Jovic, he is with Bebek best Croatian referee and he did very well at UEFA matches and I think his promotion is deserved. Just to remind that he was a referee of quarter final match at EURO U17 although he was originaly appointed as fourth official for that tournament.
    Regarding his suspension it was not deserved, he was VAR on that match, he was wrong but not for a month long suspension that was wrong decision of Cro Ref Committee. Just to compare - Paul Tierny was VAR in that match Sheffield-Aston Villa where hawk-eye did not work and clear goal was not detected and even if hawk-eye did not detectet it, VAR had to since it wqs very obvious that goal was scores. Not that Paul Tierny was not suspended but he was referee on Astona Villa's matches only four days later. My point is that domestic suspension may be very subjective (and in Croatia it usualy is) and therefore it should not be considered as a criteria for promotion in Jovic's case.

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    1. Yep, that season-ban (later downgraded to a month-ban) for Pajac and Jovic was outrageous, a poor and populist decision from Croatian federation. I think Jovic's only big mistake on that Croatian Cup SF was ignoring a clear SFP incident.

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    2. Absoulutely, suspensions were populist decision to calm people from Osijek, although Jovic's real mistake was that SFP incident he missed and it was against Osijek. This is unfortunately not the first time Cro Ref Committee is deciding against referees just to calm clubs' presidents and officials. Some yeara ago, two, probably best Croatian referees ever, Domagoj Ljubicic and Zlatko Simcic were both taken from the lists and forced to retire after they each missed a penalty in their matches. That happened at the beggining of the season (If I remember well only four matchdays were played)....

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  25. Well deserved for Christofi from Cyprus. Definitely Bertrand Layec is doing a good work. Christofi was also Hugh Dallas favourite referee at his time in Cyprus. I watched him a couple of times and he is indeed very athletic and man-manager. Time will show

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    1. Agreed - Christofí impressed me in the games I watched him in Cyprus and he could go far in UEFA if you ask me. Deserved promotion.

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  26. OT

    Former UEFA 1st Group referee Leontios Trattou from Cyprus had his final match yesterday, a friendly match between Apoel and Apollon Limassol.

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    Replies
    1. A very long career in FIFA list for him. Fair tribute, Edward.

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  27. North Ireland nobody above Cat 3 it seems their level is falling.

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