UEFA Europa League, MD5, Referee Appointments

Harald Lechner (AUT), 29 years old, UEFA classification: Second Group (still..)

30 November 2011

Group A, 18:00
Rubin Kazan - Shamrock Rovers
Referee Harald Lechner (AUT)
Assistant Referees Alain Hoxha (AUT), Andreas Fellinger (AUT)
Additional Assistant Referees Rene Eisner (AUT), Alexander Harkam (AUT)
4th Official Markus Hameter (AUT)

Group A, 21:05
Tottenham - PAOK
Referee Bas Nijhuis (NED)
Assistant Referees Angelo Boonman (NED), Rob van de Ven (NED)
Additional Assistant Referees Ed Janssen (NED), Reinold Wiedemeijer (NED)
4th Official Jeroen Sanders (NED)
Blog Referee Observer Carlos Salcedo (COL)

Group B, 21:05
Standard Liège - Hannover 96
Referee Antonio Damato (ITA)
Assistant Referees Cristiano Copelli (ITA), Massimiliano Grilli (ITA)
Additional Assistant Referees Gabriele Gava (ITA), Christian Brighi (ITA)
4th Official Carmine Russo (ITA)


Group B, 21:05
Vorskla - Kobenhavn
Referee Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referees Dmitry Zhuk (BLR), Andrei Getikov (BLR)
Additional Assistant Referees Sergei Tsinkevich (BLR), Valeri Velichko (BLR)
4th Official Denis Scherbakov (BLR)

Group C, 21:05
Rapid Bucuresti - Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Referee Zsolt Szabó (HUN)
Assistant Referees Robert Kispal (HUN), Zsolt Varga (HUN)
Additional Assistant Referees Roland Veizer (HUN), Ádám Farkas (HUN)
4th Official Peter Solymosi (HUN)

Group C, 21:05
Legia - PSV
Referee Firat Aydinus (TUR)
Assistant Referees Serkan Ok (TUR), Aleks Tascioglu (TUR)
Additional Assistant Referees Baris Simsek (TUR), Ozgur Yankaya (TUR)
4th Official Hakan Ceylan (TUR)

Group G, 19:00
Malmö - AZ Alkmaar
Referee Mark Courtney (NIR)
Assistant Referees Eamon Shanks (NIR), Paul Munn (NIR)
Additional Assistant Referees Raymond Crangle (NIR), Mervyn Smyth (NIR)
4th Official Arnold Hunter (NIR)

Group G, 19:00
Metalist - Austria Wien
Referee Pavel Cristian Balaj (ROU)
Assistant Referees Zoltán Székely (ROU), George Adrian Vidan (ROU)
Additional Assistant Referees Alexandru Deaconu (ROU), Robert Dumitru (ROU)
4th Official Sebastian Coltescu (ROU)


Group H, 19:00
Maribor - Club Brugge
Referee Libor Kovarik (CZE)
Assistant Referees Krystof Mencl (CZE), Patrik Filipek (CZE)
Additional Assistant Referees Radek Matejek (CZE), Miroslav Zelinka (CZE)
4th Official Tomas Kocourek (CZE)

Group H, 19:00
Braga - Birmingham
Referee Markus Strömbergsson (SWE)
Assistant Referees Magnus Sjöblom (SWE), Daniel Wärnmark (SWE)
Additional Assistant Referees Daniel Stalhammar (SWE), Johan Hamlin (SWE)
4th Official Michael Lerjeus (SWE)

Group I, 19:00
Stade Rennes - Udinese
Referee Sergey Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referees Thikon Kalugin (RUS), Dmitry Mosyakin (RUS)
Additional Assistant Referees Stanislav Sukhina (RUS), Maksim Layuskhin (RUS)
4th Official Vitaly Meshkov (RUS)

Group I, 19:00
Celtic - Atlético
Referee Eric Braamhaar (NED)
Assistant Referees Arend Brink (NED), Wilco W.A. Lobbert (NED)
Additional Assistant Referees Pol van Boekel (NED), Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
4th Official Maarten Ketting (NED)


01 December 2011

Group D, 21:05
Sporting - Zürich
Referee Peter Rasmussen (DEN)
Assistant Referees Henrik Sönderby (DEN), Lars Rix (DEN)
Additional Assistant Referees Jakob Kehlet (DEN), Kenn Hansen (DEN)
4th Official Michael Johansen (DEN)

Group D, 21:05
Vaslui - Lazio
Referee Milorad Mazic (SRB)
Assistant Referees Milovan Ristic (SRB), Igor Radojcic (SRB)
Additional Assistant Referees Bosko Jovanetic (SRB), Vlado Glodjovic (SRB)
4th Official Milenko Vukadinovic (SRB)
Blog Referee Observer Chefren (ITA)

Group E, 21:05
Stoke - Dynamo Kyiv
Referee Florian Meyer (GER)
Assistant Referees Holger Henschel (GER), Christoph Bornhorst (GER)
Additional Assistant Referees Tobias Welz (GER), Markus Wingenbach (GER)
4th Official Jochen Drees (GER)

Group E, 21:05
Maccabi Tel-Aviv - Besiktas
Referee Serge Gumienny (BEL)
Assistant Referees Mark Simons (BEL), Frank Bleyen (BEL)
Additional Assistant Referees Luc Wouters (BEL), Alexandre Boucaut (BEL)
4th Official Sébastien Delferiere (BEL)

Group F, 21:05
Athletic Bilbao - Slovan Bratislava
Referee Hannes Kaasik (EST)
Assistant Referees Marko Leevand (EST), Jaanus Mutli (EST)
Additional Assistant Referees Kristo Tohver (EST), Eiko Saar (EST)
4th Official Jan Roos (EST)

Group F, 21:05
RB Salzburg - PSG
Referee Liran Liany (ISR)
Assistant Referees Dvir Shimon (ISR), Elias Biton (ISR)
Additional Assistant Referees Meir Levi (ISR), Asaf Kenan (ISR)
4th Official Alon Yefet (ISR)


Group J, 19:00
AEK Larnaca - Maccabi Haifa
Referee Andre Marriner (ENG)
Assistant Referees Darren Cann (ENG), Simon Long (ENG)
Additional Assistant Referees Anthony Taylor (ENG), Kevin Friend (ENG)
4th Official Michael Oliver (ENG)

Group J, 19:00
Schalke 04 - Steaua Bucuresti
Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP, photo)
Assistant Referees Javier Aguilar Rodriguez (ESP), Pau Cebrián Devis (ESP)
Additional Assistant Referees Carlos Clos Gómez (ESP), Javier Estrada Fernández (ESP)
4th Official Javier Turienzo Alvarez (ESP)


Group K, 19:00
Odense - Wisla Krakow
Referee Laurent Duhamel (FRA)
Assistant Referees Michael Annonier (FRA), Christophe Capelli (FRA)
Additional Assistant Referees Wilfried Bien (FRA), Alexendre Castro (FRA)
4th Official Philippe Kalt (FRA)

Group K, 19:00
Twente - Fulham
Referee Marijo Strahonja (CRO)
Assistant Referees Sinisa Premuzaj (CRO), Zeljko Novosel (CRO)
Additional Assistant Referees Igor Pristovnik (CRO), Damir Batinic (CRO)
4th Official Ante Vucemilovic-Simunovic jr (CRO)
Blog Referee Observer Edward A. (GRE)

Group L, 18:00
Lokomotiv Moskva - Sturm Graz
Referee Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referees Stefan Lupp (GER), Guido Kleve (GER)
Additional Assistant Referees Robert Hartmann (GER), Peter Sippel (GER)
4th Official Guido Winkmann (GER)

Group L, 19:00
AEK Athens - Anderlecht
Referee Robert Malek (POL)
Assistant Referees Krzysztof Myrmus (POL), Maciej Wierzbowski (POL)
Additional Assistant Referees Szymon Marciniak (POL), Hubert Siejewicz (POL)
4th Official Pawel Gil (POL)
Blog Referee Observer Edward A. (GRE)

Hou je haaks, Frank !

(c) zimbio

Referees come, referees go. It is only a normal procedure due to the age limit in professional football. One can discuss whether it is reasonable that you are - overnight - not able to referee international matches anymore. Anyway, this time, a really great referee who has probably joined the worldclass of referees for a couple of years, will leave the refereeing stage: Frank de Bleeckere.

Born in Oudenaarde (East Flanders), he is a skilled PR/Sales manager and started refereeing in 1984. It did not take him too long to arrive at the Belgian top leagues. In 1998, he made his FIFA bow and nobody could divine how outstanding his career would become:

FIFA World Cup:

2006 in Germany, assisted by Peter Hermans and Walter Vromans: 

Matches: 4; Yellow Cards: 19 (4,8 p.m.); Red Cards: 0

- Group Stage: Argentina 2-1 Côte d'Ivoire (5 YCs)

- Group Stage: Japan 0-0 Croatia (5 YCs)

- Round of 16: England 1-0 Ecuador (6 YCs)

- Quarterfinals: Italy 3-0 Ukraine (3 YCs)

2010 in South Africa, assisted by Peter Hermans and Walter Vromans:

Matches: 3; Yellow Cards: 14 (4,7 p.m.); Red Cards: 1 (0,3 p.m.)

- Group Stage: Argentina 4-1 Korea Rep. (5 YCs)

- Group Stage: USA 1-0 Algeria (4 YCs, 1 RC)

- Round of 16: Paraguay 5-3 pso Japan (5 YCs)

FIFA U20 World Cup:

2009 in Egypt, assisted by Peter Hermans and Walter Vromans:

Matches: 4; Yellow Cards: 17 (4,3 p.m.); Red Cards: 2 (0,5 p.m.)

- Opener: Egypt 4-1 Trinidad & Tobago (4 YCs)

- Group Stage: Nigeria 0-2 Spain (7 YCs, 1 RC)

- Group Stage: Australia 1-3 Brazil (3 YCs)

- Final: Ghana 4-3 pso Brazil (3 YCs, 1 RC)

UEFA Euro:

2008 in Austria/Switzerland, assisted by Peter Hermans and Alex Verstraeten:

Matches: 3; Yellow Cards: 13 (4,3 p.m.); Red Cards: 1 (0,3 p.m.)

- Group Stage: Croatia 2-1 Germany (6 YCs, 1 RC)

- Group Stage: Russia 2-0 Sweden (5 YCs)

- Semifinal: Russia 0-3 Spain (2 YCs) 

UEFA Champions League: 

Matches: 47; Yellow Cards: 166 (3,53 p.m.); Red Cards: 4 (0,09 p.m.)

most important matches:

- Semifinal, 2006: AC Milan 3-0 Manchester United

- Round of 16, 2009: Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid

- Quarterfinal, 2010: Bayern München 2-1 Manchester United

- Semifinal, 2010: FC Barcelona 1-0 Internazionale

- Semifinal, 2011: FC Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid

mostly accompanied by: Roland van Nylen, Dirk Vanhoutte, Peter Hermans, Mark Simons, Walter Vromans & Alex Verstraeten

UEFA Europa League:

Matches: 13; Yellow Cards: 27 (2,08 p.m.); Red Cards: 2 (0,15 p.m.)

most important matches:

- semifinal, 2008: Fiorentina 2-4 pso Rangers

- semifinal, 2009: Hamburger SV 2-3 Werder Bremen

UEFA Super Cup Final:

2009: Barcelona 1-0 aet Shakhtar (6 YCs)

FdB in the battle of Istanbul

"Special matches":

- FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifiers AFC zone:

Korea DPR 0-2 Japan (4 YCs, 1 RC); match was held on neutral ground (Bangkok), closed to the public)

- FIFA World Cup 2006 playoffs UEFA zone:

Turkey 4-2 Switzerland (8 YCs); match is known as "battle of Istanbul". This match can be seen as basis for Frank de Bleeckere's career. Actually, Luis Medina Cantalejo was appointed for this match, Turkey however rejected him after his perfomance in the UCL match between Schalke 04 - Fenerbahce (2-0, 4 YCs, 2 RCs, both to Fenerbahce) where he sent to Turkish players correctly off...

(c) zimbio

Of course, if you referee for such a long time on international level, you will always have such a palmarès. But de Bleeckere was a different referee.

He was probably one of the last officials who did not only apply the rule book but also showed his personality in every match. Moreover, he was - apart from his good foul detection - able to read a match and to know how he must handle it. Without any doubt, FdB always paid more attention to the control than to his decisions, a paramount example for this statement was last season's semifinal when he was in charge of "el clásico". I doubt that there is or will be a comparable referee in the foreseeable future, even though some of "our" young talents are really promising, if I only think about young guys like Svein Moen, Felix Brych or Cuneyt Cakir.

Some people blame UEFA for not having given him a final in CL. They say UEFA has to be ashamed. Without any doubt, de Bleeckere showed outstanding perfomances in the most important matches. The best point of time to appoint him for a final would have been in the area of 2008 or 2009, however, honestly speaking, the last two seasons were perhaps not enough for a final as he showed too many crudities in his matches.

That however does not change the fact that he was a great man in the pitch, we have to be sad that he will leave the stage as referee in a few weeks. One thing is sure: he will not lose his great personality and I hope that UEFA is going to find a place for him in their comitee.

Frank de Bleeckere will not go alone, Peter Hermans, one of the greatest assistant referees of the last years has also to retire. 

Frank, Peter: thanks and good luck !

Antonio Mateu Lahoz and the professional fouls..

What do you think of the two penalty + red card situations? Furthermore, there seems to be a clear foul prior to the 3-1, or not?

Referee-Ranking for UEFA referees, 2011 (state: 25/11/2011)

the probable no.1 in 2011: Björn Kuipers (NED)

I have made a ranking for all the Elite and Elite Development referees in UEFA zone. The list is made up of an ingenious system which takes both into consideration - appointments and perfomances, although the perfomances count a bit more (something around 1/3 - 2/3). Of course, a CL semifinal counts more than BATE-Plzen, I know that every referee prepares for every match and that every match can be hard. However, the list should indicate what UEFA thinks of their referees and for this reason, better matches in a processed stage of a competition are rated higher. Only matches of UEFA club competitions and UEFA national team competitions are regarded! The whole year 2011 is the basis (= 2nd half of season 2010/2011, 1st half of the current season). It is not only me who evaluated the perfomances, it is you who have created the basis of this ranking as I have taken the average of all the marks given to the respective perfomance (at least mostly it is the average :))..

You may comment the results.

Viktor Kassai is - at the moment - the no.1. But if Kassai is not appointed on CL MD6 and Kuipers manages to show a perfomance better than 3,0 (:D), then Kuipers will be the no.1 of 2011 without any doubt.
This list is of course only tentative, there can be some changes on the last matchdays, I am going to publish the complete 2011 list as some kind of Christmas gift.

I have to publish it now because I do not know when exactly Mr Collina is going to publish his Euro 2012 list. Therefore, I want to indicate a probable Euro 2012 list with your, my, our ranking. Here it is:

Elite Group:

#	REFEREE	ORIGIN	DOB	POINTS
1	KASSAI Viktor	Hungary	1975	938,6
2	KUIPERS Björn	Netherlands	1973	900,4
3	BRYCH Felix	Germany	1975	834,5
4	RIZZOLI Nicola	Italy	1971	828,8
5	STARK Wolfgang	Germany	1969	823,5
6	ERIKSSON Jonas	Sweden	1974	812,0
7	PROENCA Pedro	Portugal	1970	804,7
8	THOMSON Craig	Scotland	1972	747,3
9	ATKINSON Martin	England	1971	713,2
10	DE BLEECKERE Frank	Belgium	1966	694,1
11	ROCCHI Gianluca	Italy	1973	651,2
12	SKOMINA Damir	Slovenia	1976	647,9
13	VELASCO Carlos	Spain	1971	646,4
14	WEBB Howard	England	1971	644,8
15	CAKIR Cuneyt	Turkey	1976	579,0
16	BENQUERENCA Olegário	Portugal	1969	575,8
17	MOEN Svein Oddvar	Norway	1979	549,3
18	MEYER Florian	Germany	1968	483,3
19	BLOM Kevin	Netherlands	1974	469,3
20	UNDIANO Alberto	Spain	1973	448,4
21	LANNOY Stéphane	France	1969	436,3
22	DUHAMEL Laurent	France	1968	374,0
23	NIKOLAEV Aleksei	Russia	1971	345,5

Elite Development Group:

#	REFEREE	ORIGIN	DOB	POINTS
1	TAGLIAVENTO Paolo	Italy	1972	608,2
2	KRALOVEC Pavel	Czech Republic	1977	560,5
3	SCHÖRGENHOFER Robert	Austria	1973	535,8
4	GRÄFE Manuel	Germany	1973	494,1
5	COLLUM William	Scotland	1979	476,5
6	CLATTENBURG Mark	England	1975	398,8
7	GUMIENNY Serge	Belgium	1972	381,8
8	KELLY Alan	Ireland	1975	370,5
9	CHAPRON Tony	France	1972	361,0
10	JOHANNESSON Stefan	Sweden	1971	284,3
11	EINWALLER Thomas	Austria	1977	142,5

(c) WoFR