2006 FIFA World Cup officials

Match officials for the 2006 FIFA World Cup were nominated by the six confederations to FIFA, who, after a series of tests in Frankfurt/Neu-Isenburg in March 2006, selected 23 referees and a support and development group of a further 5, from a shortlist of 44.

Kyros Vassaras of Greece and Manuel Mejuto of Spain were selected to be on the panel, but the assistants who were to make up their teams were not deemed to have reached the required standards, and so they were replaced by Roberto Rosetti and Luis Medina. Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast was selected for the tournament panel, but suffered a knee injury and was removed from the list without replacement. Massimo De Santis of Italy was also on the panel of 23 referees, but after he was implicated in the Serie A match-fixing allegations, he was withdrawn by the Italian Football Federation and not replaced.

The 21 referees, along with their assistants and the support group, are based in Neu-Isenburg for the duration of the tournament. FIFA announces the referees selected for each fixture three days in advance of the match.

Horacio Elizondo was chosen to officiate the final match, which took place in Berlin on July 9.

Refereeing teams

Below are the details of the 21 groups of match officials in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. For assistants, a flag is only shown if his nationality varies from that of the referee with whom he is grouped.

Most teams (consisting of a referee and two assistants) are drawn from the same nation, and all are made up of officials from the same confederation. In the first round of the tournament, officials other than from UEFA member associations only operate in groups that do not include a representative of their confederation.

Mexico is the only country with 2 referees on the panel.

For the first time at a World Cup, match officials will be equipped with microphones and earpieces so they can communicate better with each other during each game. Furthermore this World Cup sees the introduction of a fifth official who can be called upon to replace an injured assistant referee. The fourth official would replace the referee..

Referee	Assistants	Matches	Red cards	Yellow cards
Essam Abd El Fatah	D. Dante M. Ndoye	Group F: Template:AUSf vs. Template:JPNf	0	7
Carlos Amarilla	A. Andino M. Bernal	Group E: Template:USAf vs Template:CZEf Group G: Template:TOGf vs Template:SWIf Group H: Template:TUNf vs Template:UKRf	1	18
Benito Archundia	J. Ramirez H. Vergara	Group F: Template:BRAf vs Template:CROf Group G: Template:FRAf vs Template:KORf Group E: Template:CZEf vs Template:ITAf Round 2: Template:SWIf vs Template:UKRf Semifinal: Template:GERf vs Template:ITAf	1	14
Massimo Busacca	F. Buragina M. Arnet	Group H: Template:ESPf vs Template:UKRf Group B: Template:SWEf vs Template:ENGf Round 2: Template:ARGf vs Template:MEXf	1	11
Coffi Codjia	C. Ntagungira A. Aderodjou	Group A: Template:ECUf vs Template:CRCf Group H: Template:ESPf vs Saudi Arabia	0	10
Frank De Bleeckere	P. Hermans W. Vromans	Group C: Template:ARGf vs Template:CIVf Group F: Template:CROf vs Template:JPNf Round 2: Template:ENGf vs Template:ECUf Quarterfinal: Template:ITAf vs Template:UKRf	0	19
Horacio Elizondo	D. Garcia R. Otero	Group A: Template:GERf vs Template:CRCf Group E: Template:CZEf vs Template:GHAf Group G: Template:KORf vs Template:SWIf Quarterfinal: Template:ENGf vs Template:PORf Final: Template:ITAf vs Template:FRAf	3	24
Valentin Ivanov	N. Golubev E. Volnin	Group G: Template:FRAf vs Template:SWIf Group A: Template:ECUf vs Template:GERf Round 2: Template:PORf vs Template:NEDf	4	26
Toru Kamikawa	Y. Hiroshima Kim Dae Young	Group A: Template:POLf vs Template:ECUf Group B: Template:ENGf vs Template:TRIf Third Place play-off: Template:GERf vs Template:PORf	0	14
Jorge Larrionda	W. Rial P. Fandino	Group D: Template:ANGf vs Template:PORf Group E: Template:ITAf vs Template:USAf Group G: Template:TOGf vs Template:FRAf Semifinal: Template:PORf vs France	3	15
Shamsul Maidin	P. Permpanich E. Ghuloum	Group B: Template:TRIf vs Template:SWEf Group D: Template:MEXf vs Template:ANGf Group A: Template:CRCf vs Template:POLf	2	20
Luis Medina Cantalejo	V. Giraldez P. Medina	Group A: Template:GERf vs Template:POLf Group C: Template:NEDf vs Template:ARGf Round 2: Template:ITAf vs Template:AUSf Quarterfinal: Template:BRAf vs Template:FRAf	2	25
Markus Merk	C. Schraer J.-H. Salver	Group C: Template:SCGf vs Template:NEDf Group F: Template:BRAf vs Template:AUSf Group E: Template:GHAf vs Template:USAf	0	16
Ľuboš Micheľ	R. Slysko M. Balko	Group B: Template:SWEf vs Template:PARf Group D: Template:PORf vs Template:MEXf Round 2: Template:BRAf vs Template:GHAf Quarterfinal: Template:GERf vs Template:ARGf	3	32
Graham Poll	P. Sharp G. Turner	Group G: Template:KORf vs Template:TOGf Group H: Template:KSAf vs Template:UKRf Group F: Template:CROf vs Template:AUSf	4	20
Eric Poulat	L. Dagorne V. Texier	Group D: Template:PORf vs Template:IRNf Group F: Template:JPNf vs Template:BRAf	0	9
Marco Rodríguez	J. Camargo L. Leal	Group B: Template:ENGf vs Template:PARf Group C: Template:CIVf vs Template:SCGf	2	12
Roberto Rosetti	C. Copelli A. Stagnoli	Group D: Template:MEXf vs Template:IRNf Group C: Template:ARGf vs Template:SCGf Group B: Template:PARf vs Template:TRIf Round 2: Template:ESPf vs Template:FRAf	1	15
Oscar Ruiz	F. Tamayo J. Navia	Group C: Template:NEDf vs Template:CIVf	0	7
Mark Shield	N. Gibson B. Wilson	Group H: Template:TUNf vs Template:KSAf Group D: Template:IRNf vs Template:ANGf	0	10
Carlos Simon	A. Tavares E. Corona	Group E: Template:ITAf vs Template:GHAf Group H: Template:ESPf vs Template:TUNf Round 2: Template:GERf vs Template:SWEf	1	18

Support officials

Five teams of officials were named to be on standby in the case of injury to any of the officials nominated for a match. None of them were called upon, however, and from the quarter-finals onwards, referees from among the 12 retained for the latter stages of the tournament were given standby appointments to matches.

Referee	Assistant
Khalil Al Ghamdi	H. Al Kadri F. Rabati
Carlos Chandia	C. Julio R. Gonzalez
Jerome Damon	E. Molefe J. Yeboah
Mohamed Guezzaz	B. Djezzar J. Endeng Zogo
Kevin Stott	C. Strickland G. Barkey

Final Match Officials

On Wednesday 28th of June, one day after the Second Round matches were completed and two days before the Quarterfinals, the FIFA announced the 12 referees that were retained for the remaining matches. This is the standard process, meant to ensure only the best referees are in charge of the final few games. The twelve are:

• Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
• Coffi Codjia (Benin)
• Benito Archundia (Mexico)
• Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
• Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
• Mark Shield (Australia)
• Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
• Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
• Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
• Markus Merk (Germany)
• Ľuboš Micheľ (Slovakia)
• Roberto Rosetti (Italy)[1]

It is notable that the referees remaining had a lower average number of cards given per match (5.21) than the referee pool as a whole (5.82). Nine of the ten referees with the lowest number of cards per match were chosen to stay. This was met with criticism, however, as the referees could also be politically chosen. FIFA wanted to ensure that at least 1 referee from each continent within the final shortlist.

See also

2006 FIFA World Cup disciplinary record

External links

• Referee Ratings for the 2006 FIFA World Cup