We are proud to present a detailed study based on the predictions sent by our readers. Brazilian Sandro Ricci is the most voted referee for Russia - Saudi Arabia.
Thank to the excellent cooperation of our readers Soham and Drew Burd, we can offer you the statistics origined by the predictions you have sent. Your entries have been treated as confidentially. Only the names were analyzed in order to get this study.
These are the results for the opener, Russia - Saudi Arabia:
Let's wait for the official choice by FIFA Referees Committee, of course this is only the result of our predictions.
UPDATE
Here the list of all "winners" for Matchday 1:
Russia - Saudi Arabia Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Egypt - Uruguay Clément Turpin (FRA)
Portugal - Spain Felix Brych (GER)
Morocco - Iran Sergey Karasev (RUS)
France - Australia Bakary Gassama (GAM)
Perù - Denmark Bakary Gassama (GAM)
Argentina - Iceland Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Croatia - Nigeria Wilmar Roldán (COL)
Costa Rica - Serbia Janny Sikazwe (ZAM), Wilmar Roldán (COL), Malang Diedhiou (SEN)
Brazil - Switzerland Ravhsn Irmatov (UZB)
Germany - Mexico Néstor Pitana (ARG)
South Korea - Sweden Janny Sikazwe (ZAM)
Belgium - Panama Matthew Conger (NZL)
Tunisia - England Andrés Cunha (URU), César Ramos (MEX)
Colombia - Japan Gianluca Rocchi (ITA)
Poland - Senegal César Ramos (MEX)
His European style of refereeing is the perfect image that FIFA want to present to the world as the 'typical' officiating one can expect to see in Russia.
ReplyDeleteSurely one can expect Sampaio as VAR also.
I did not vote unfortunately, but I would say Brych for the opener.
ReplyDeleteSince they rather always maintain confederation neutrality for the opener, so Brych doing a Russia v Saudi Arabia game doesn't seem practically feasible!!
DeleteUnlikely also with regard to BEL-RUS four years ago.
DeleteConfederation neutrality is not a written rule, if they do not apply it in finals would in opener? BEL-RUS was four years ago, we will see if that will exclude Brych from Russia's or Belgium's matches. The reasons I think Brych is good candidate for opener: Great form and Collina knows that, we saw that in Champions League. Moreover, Brych has experience with VAR, two VARs are from Germany. And there is a good chance Germany could reach the final so opener would be great match for Brych if he would not be available for final. All in all he is just perfect for the opener: great form, style, experience with VAR, example for all other referees.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think Ricci is less suitable?? And in any case I don't think a game like Russia v Saudi Arabia needs Brych with all due respect to both the teams involved!!
DeleteIMO No risk to be taken by Mr Colina
ReplyDeleteI added new statistics with all "winners" for MD1 games.
ReplyDeleteThe most "discussed" and "controversial" game to make predictions, with many different views, is Costa Rica - Serbia. Three options have the same results.
Something similar for South Korea - Sweden: Sikazwe is ahead only for one vote and then three referees to follow.
On the contrary, some sure appointments (many votes for the related referee) seem to be: Conger in Belgium - Panama, Pitana in Germany - Mexico, Gassama in France - Australia (he also won the poll for the other match of the group, but with less votes), Turpin in Egypt - Uruguay and Brych in Portugal - Spain.
Thank you again to Drew Burd.
Busy days for Gassama :)
ReplyDeleteRicci seems a save option, even though I am not a big fan. But that's all personal. Still, a 'smaller' name seems possible.
Thanks to refereeingworld.blogspot.com (some great articles I found there also!
ReplyDeleteFIFA Women's WC
UEFA Zone Qualification
Poland – Scotland
Referee: Stephanie Frappart (FRA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Manuela Nicolosi (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Solenne Bartnik (FRA)
Fourth Official: Karolina Skalska (POL)
Iceland – Slovenia
Referee: Shona Shukrula (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Franca Overtoom (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Diana Snoeren (NED)
Fourth Official: Briet Bragadottir (ISL)
Belarus – Switzerland
Referee: Viola Raudziņa (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Diana Vanaga (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Liga Didriķe (LVA)
Fourth Official: Alena Karas (BLR)
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Kazakhstan
Referee: Reelika Turi (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Karolin Kaivoja (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Anni Koppel (EST)
Fourth Official: Merima Homarac (BIH)
Czech Republic – Faroe Islands
Referee: Eleni Antoniou (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Chrysoula Kourompylia (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Panagiota Koutsoumpou (GRE)
Fourth Official: Jana Šauflová (CZE)
Denmark – Hungary
Referee: Petra Pavlikova (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Slavomira Majkuthová (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Katarina Smolikova (SVK)
Fourth Official: Oleksandra Vdovina (UKR)
Ukraine – Sweden
Referee: Rebecca Welch (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Lisa Rashid (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Abigail Marriott (ENG)
Fourth Official: Line-Maria Rasmussen (DEN)
Norway – Ireland
Referee: Esther Staubli (SUI)
Assistant Referee 1: Belinda Brem (SUI)
Assistant Referee 2: Susann Küng (SUI)
Fourth Official: Elisabeth Thoresen (NOR)
Serbia – Finland
Referee: Henrikke Nervik (NOR)
Assistant Referee 1: Monica Lokkeberg (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Linda Andersen (NOR)
Fourth Official: Aleksandra Kojović (SRB)
Israel – Austria
Referee: Eszter Urban (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Katalin Török (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Brigitta Makkosne Petz (HUN)
Fourth Official: May Moalem (ISR)
Romania – Portugal
Referee: Ewa Augustyn (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Kinga Seniuk-Mikulska (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Paulina Baranowska (POL)
Fourth Official: Alexandra Apostu (ROU)
Netherlands – Slovakia
Referee: María Martinez Madrona (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrada Aloman (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Miriam Morales González (ESP)
Fourth Official: Fijke Hoogendijk (NED)
Wales – Russia
Referee: Lina Lehtovaara (FIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tonja Paavola (FIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Jenni Mahlamäki (FIN)
Fourth Official: Laura Griffiths (WAL)
Frappart, Staubli and Letovaara from Elite, and probably these are the three hardest or most crucial fixtures.
Martinez Madrona stands out the most for me, I think with Maria Luisa Villa behind her, UEFA seems to test her to be a top referee after their other Spanish experiments essentially failed.
Welch also is considered a big hope for England (Rayner nor Garrett I think will ascend past First Category).
Pavlikova also seems to be well thought of, she was recently promoted IIRC.
The live stream of a media briefing all about refereeing at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ will begin at 17:00 on Tuesday 12 June (local time, CET+1 hour).
ReplyDeleteHeld at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, the briefing will feature Chairman of the FIFA Referees’ Commission Pierluigi Collina and Head of FIFA’s Refereeing Department Massimo Busacca, as well as referees Sandro Ricci and Ravshan Irmatov of Brazil and Uzbekistan respectively. Each will reflect on what it has taken to ensure the referees, assistant referees and video assistant referees (VARs) are ready for Russia 2018.
VARs are featuring at the World Cup for the first time and will support referees for match-changing situations, providing the assistance they need to increase fairness in the game.
The referee media briefing will be streamed live on FIFA.com and FIFATV on YouTube.
www.fifa.com
Ricci's presence could mean that his appointment for the opener will be announced. Also, the timing suits such announcement.
DeleteYes, this could indicate something. Ricci would be a decent and expected choice. Irmatov, being the most experienced referee at the WC, should not have something to do with the opener. However, it is possible that he will work as an AVAR in RUS-KSA, which does not sound very likely to be honest.
DeleteProbably Irmatov won't be possible for any Russia games because he comes from the former Soviet Union. Similar to Mazic and Skomina probably not handling Croatia games.
DeleteMaybe Irmatov will be announced as referee for the final ;) - expect the unexpected
Will there be live stream somewhere
DeleteYoutube.com/FIFATV
DeleteHey, I realised after I submitted the predictions, that I should have taken a screenshot, or written them down, do you think you can send our predictions to us if we provide you with our emails?
DeleteYes it is possible. All the predictions are saved with me. And they can be easily shared in the form of images via the Google form itself.
DeleteAlright, can you please send them to jacobbarnas@yahoo.ca please?
DeleteHello guys, I'm new to this blog for the World Cup. I'm looking forward to many interesting discussions!
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the opening game: Sandro Ricci would be a suitable choice, but I don't think FIFA should 'waste' him. Russia are clearly no favourite for reaching more than a R16 game, Saudi Arabia are in fact playing quite poorly and should not have many chances. Therefor, I think we can expect an easy-going game, of course with massive medial attention, and with the usual importance of the very first game.
I believe FIFA should and could do the same they did in 2010: Appointing a "blank" name to the opener from one of the "minor" confederations, who is a| able to set a clear standard for the refereeing to be expected and b| is a candidate who can officiate 3 group stage games and maybe even KO.
As AFC got the last 2 opening games and CONMEBOL the Confed Cup opener, I believe that Cesar Ramos has massive chances to take control over Russia vs Saudi Arabia. He has proven that he is able to handle games in a "European" style, with much calmness and clearly serving the game and not himself. This is needed in the first game. Ricci is needed for higher tasks, in my view.
At the same time, picking the most important games out, I think that POR-ESP goes to Felix Brych and Germany-Mexico to Ravshan Irmatov.
I haven’t voted for the complete first round but have a idea of the opener.
ReplyDeleteIn this match FIFA offcourse likes to see a match with less risk of critism on the referees. Including the VAR. So therefore two criteria are very important. Trust and experience. Committee wants to fully trust a referee bases on his experience (on previous finals / tournaments). The other experience is with VAR. They clearly don’t like (communication) problems with VAR(like on the confed cup), so they’d like to appoint a referee with VAR experience.
On other FIFA tournaments confed neutrality hasn’t been a problem. So therefore we can expect this surprise aswel.
Therefore all referees with VAR experience can be taken into account. As dutchmen Kuipers could than be possible, but also Brych or other Experienced referees from other confeds.
As far as I know Russia-Dutch relation is a bit of a cold war :/
DeleteThat's a subtle way to put it. However, Russia's relations with most countries are quite bad. On female WC, a North Korean took charge of many matches. North Korea has cold relations with plenty of countries. Same for Iran. Don't think that should be TOO much of a criterium.
ReplyDeleteIt often is an important criterion. Last year in U-20 World Cup, FIFA announced Çakir as the referee for Costa Rica v Iran and after a few hours replaced him with Eriksson. We can all understand probably why that was done. So these things are at times taken into account and more so when a federation objects to the appointment of a certain referee on such grounds!
DeleteIt will be interesting to see if refs will handle matches more leniently because Marciniak said that they will be avoiding bookings as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteWe'll be treated to Brazil 2014 all over again because of this nonsensical directive.
Delete"Unnecessary" bookings should be avoided anyway... Viewers want to enjoy a spectacle on pitch by players and nobody wishes to see a ocean of yellow cards dished out by card happy referees... Obviously the obvious YCs can't be and won't be avoided but the harsh ones should be and would be avoided... Proper spectacle for the viewers...
DeleteThe only way to avoid unnecessary cautions is to appoint referees who can manage things and have a strong personality. But, already, 2 of the best aren't there.
DeleteEriksson and Kassai ? 😂
DeleteNo more entertaining spectacle on all of football than seeing two teams beat on each other all while the referee remains passively idle afraid to show "harsh" or "unnecessary" cards.
DeleteI'm sure the fans enjoyed a proper spectacle seeing Neymar having his back fractured or seeing Xabi Alonso literally speared in the chest by DeJong's cleats.
Good times and highly enjoyable I say. And it totally makes the Referee's look like they know what they're doing and not like they've completely lost the plot.
O.T.
ReplyDeleteJust to share with you my teammates and my friends what happened to me yesterday night. I was called to referee a semifinal match of an amateur tournament in Milan (Italy).
At the 20th min of the second half I was obliged to suspend the match for a violent and sudden riot which involved almost all the players; there weren't anymore the conditions to play football. After the three blows, the violent riot continued at the entrance of the dress rooms and involved some ladies (girlfriends, wives and mothers) of the players went into with the aim to bring quite and calm. One lady was stroke on the face.
Situation went back calm after half an hour only thank to the intervention of the police.
I was astonished, regretted and disappointed. It was a friendly tournament between amateurs!!!!!, played in a pitch offered by the church of the area. Really a sad night for me. It never happened to me.
when will they announce referees for first matches?
ReplyDeleteAs Chefren posted earlier in this thread, Fifa is going to hold a press conference today at 17:00 Moscow local time, which you can stream via Fifa homepage or it's YouTube channel. One can assume, that they are going to announce the referee for the opener during the conference.
DeleteIt is reported that Ricci trained with Orsato as VAR.
ReplyDeleteVAR appointment for Russia - Saudi Arabia could be Italian.
The other referees who trained are Kuipers, Pitana, Çakir, Marciniak, Rocchi and Gassama... Other VARs who trained are Sampaio, Soares Dias and Maidana (Pitana's AR)... Information as reported by our friends from the Arbitro Internacional...
DeleteTour of the Video Operation Room (VOR)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu6jaBb5Low