Big Question: Who will Referee the Final Match?
Take a trip around cyberspace and you’ll see that you can bet on just about anything related to the World Cup. One thing we haven’t come across yet, however, are odds for the various referees being assigned the final. There are 23 men in the middle to choose from this year, but only one will have the distinction of being hated by the losing country’s entire populace. Who will it be? We’re not afraid to offer you our infallible referee pick. We’re bold that way.
Like any good gambler not named Wayne Rooney, we like to look at historical trends. We put together a list of the head referee at each of the previous World Cups. What you see is a group dominated by European refs until about 1982. Since then, only two of the six referees have been from Europe. Also worth noting that Africa and CONCACAF have only been represented once each, while Asia and Oceana have never had a referee call the final. The host country has never had a referee call the final either.
1930 Jean Langenus (Belgium)
1934 Ivan Eklind (Sweden)
1938 Georges Capdeville (France)
1950 George Reader (England)
1954 Bill Ling (England)
1958 Maurice Guigue (France)
1962 Nikolai Latychev (Soviet Union)
1966 Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)
1970 Rudolf Glöckner (East Germany)
1974 Jack Taylor (England)
1978 Sergio Gonella (Italy)
1982 Arnaldo Coelho (Brazil)
1986 Romualdo Arppi Filho (Brazil)
1990 Edgardo Codesal Mendez (Mexico)
1994 Sandor Puhl (Hungary)
1998 Said Belqola (Morocco)
2002 Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
The next thing the smart gambler betting on foolish things does is to look at the 23 candidates this year.
From this list we eliminate all the referees from Europe since Collina called the last final. We’re also going to rule out the African representatives even though we are pulling for the guy from Benin. We scratch off guys from countries that could make the final game. That leaves us with a handful of possibilities.
Our infallible choice for the 2006 World Cup final head referee is….drumroll… Mark Shield from Australia.
If you are foolish enough to disagree with us on this one than we’d love to hear your pick. But our retirement savings are on Mr. Shield and nothing you can say will sway us to choose another guy.
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Comments
By Gus | April 12th, 2006 at 12:48 am 
Just noticed you mention “The host country has never had a referee call the final either.” but the 1938 WC was held in France if I’m not mistaken.
Posted from 
Australia
By Bense | April 12th, 2006 at 2:40 am I’d say Merk if Germany doesn’t reach the final. Otherwise Poll or Michel or who else? As long as it’s not Prendergast from Jamaica…
Posted from 
United States
By Chris | April 12th, 2006 at 2:40 am I think FIFA have a rule about if a referee’s home country makes it to the quarterfinals that ref is done for the World Cup.
Looking at that list FIFA has picked a group that will still give them plenty of choice by that stage.
I’d bet on the Belgian getting it.
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By Bense | April 12th, 2006 at 5:40 am de Bleckere? Frisk was a damn good ref until he retired. He and Merk actually did most of the finals, apart from Collina, in the past years.
Posted from United States
By André | April 12th, 2006 at 6:22 am And what if Australia plays the final??? 
Posted from 
Brazil
By Arno | April 12th, 2006 at 7:16 am I would say Markus Merk.
Second choice Franck DeBleekere.
Posted from 
Netherlands
By Luis Paulo | April 12th, 2006 at 7:41 am Oscar Ruiz from Colombia is consider the best south american referee so he has a chance once Colombia is not in the WC.
By Trent | April 12th, 2006 at 7:44 am Luis Paulo, I agree with you about Oscar Ruiz, but one of his linesman is Ecuadorian. Since Ecuador will be in the final, he may be ruled out if the linesman isn’t replaced. 
Posted from United States
By Ecuador’s Tamayo Officially Invited to World Cup - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Ecuador World Cup Team Blog | April 12th, 2006 at 9:10 am [...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave aReply [...]
Posted from United States
By Bense | April 12th, 2006 at 9:20 am Yeah, great, a colombian ref in the final. Can’t wait to read that he was shot half a year later because he took a bribe from some cartel that wanted him to give one side a penalty for free. Nothing against Colombia, but too much funny stuff related to football has happened there ever since.
Posted from United States
By Jason | April 14th, 2006 at 2:24 pm i would say graham poll! top ref…
By Horacio Elizondo to Referee World Cup Final - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog | July 7th, 2006 at 9:26 am [...] A few months back I had you guess who would be the World Cup final referee and none of you got it right. Neither did I. Thanks for playing. You can pick up your consolation prize at the door. Bet on World Cup 2006 Buy World Cup Kits Buy World Cup Tickets World Cup Travel World Cup Photos World Cup Video Photo & Video Contest Category: World Cup 2006, Final Tags: world cup final referee, horacio elizondo, referees, Tag Index « A Gold Ball for a Golden World Cup Final | Home | If you found “Horacio Elizondo to Referee World Cup Final” useful or interesting, please share it with others by bookmarking it at the following sites: .wp-notable img {border: none;margin-left:5px;} Leave a Reply [...]
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