The 23 Men who will Give you Nightmares

March 31st, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

Those guys at FIFA are wild and crazy. Throwing us all a curveball today, the world’s football governing body released the list of referees who will be ruining your team’s chances this summer at the World Cup. Ten come from UEFA, five from South America, three from CONCACAF, two from Africa, two from Asia and one from Australia. Those who are math inclined will realize this only adds up to 23 names. Last World Cup there were 36 referees and we have been told all along that there would be 30 refs in Germany. Surprise! FIFA has decided that these 23 men will be supported by seven alternatives who will be on hand in the the event the main referees become sick, can’t find the stadium or are extremely hungover from drinking too much beer. We are terribly upset this referee didn’t make the cut. Here is the complete list.

Essam Abd El Fatah (Egypt)
Carlos Amarilla (Paraguay)
Benito Archundia (Mexico)
Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
Coffi Codjia (Benin)
Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Massimo de Santis (Italy)
Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)
Valentin Ivanov (Russia)
Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)
Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)
Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain)
Markus Merk (Germany)
Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
Graham Poll (England)
Eric Poulat (France)
Peter Prendergast (Jamaica)
Oscar Ruiz (Colombia)
Mark Shield (Australia)
Carlos Simon (Brazil)
Kyros Vassaras (Greece)

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http://ecuador.worldcupblog.org/ Trent

Oscar Ruiz is a good ref…but he did screw El Nacional in their match against River Plate. I’m just sayin’.
http://www.soccercommercials.com Chris Cooper

No Brian Hall! That makes me feel better already. Perhaps FIFA isn’t as incompetent as they appear to be after all.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/big-question-which-teams-have-the-most-potent-offenses.html Pedro P

My biggest fear in WC, in a clear opposition to the EC’s, is excalty the referees + their teams. This is still a free blog and I say traditionally WCs presents us with some of the worse. ECs shows us some of the best.

No matter for which reason, and at a personal level, I pitty not seeing Anders Frisk and Colina anymore. I really do. World Football lost something important there. I know Merck and Poll and I like them.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/refs-can-take-bribes-as-long-as-they-are-fair.html Refs Can Take Bribes as Long as they are Fair – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

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http://store.worldcupblog.org Chris

This is an interesting question. It would appear that FIFA has gone for diversity in referees rather than the very best in the business. No offense to the dude from Benin, but where does he earn his living? Frankly the same goes for the guy from Australia. How much high quality football does he officiate week in, week out?

Are we to believe that there is only one Italian and English referee in the top 23 in the world?

I understand FIFA can’t weight too much from one or two countries because of the possibility of those teams doing well in the tournament and the scheduling issues that would result.

I’m just posing the question, are we substituting quality in order to be PC?
http://angola.worldcupblog.org/group-d/no-angolan-referees-at-the-world-cup.html No Angolan Referees at the World Cup – FIFA World Cup 2006 – Angola World Cup Team Blog

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http://www.worldcupblog.com Pasha

It is disgaceful that they chose referees from African countries not participating. Surely there are capable referees in Angola, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia and Ghana. If they are going to have the different regions represented they should reward the countries that actually made the World Cup.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/big-question-which-teams-have-the-most-potent-offenses.html Pedro P

Did Urs Meier retire? Or he’s just not going?

Even the guy who whistled last Benfica vs Barça made a number of mistakes (for both sides, but also didn’t see a clear hand ball from Barça – 70th minute) – and I bet he is one of the top, I can hardly wait to see what these ilustrious unknown can do…
John

Is FIFA going to use linesmen from the same country as the ref? That seems to cause the most amount of problems. Oh, and thank god Hugh (looked like a Southwest Conference basketball official)Dallas from Scotland is not on the list. He’s they guy that did not call the handball vs. Germany vs. the USA,
PeterG

So who exactly does Prendergast have the goods on?
Jarooooommme

Where’s my referee from Saudi Arabia?
justin

im surprised the FIGC chose to go with Massimo De Sanctis….my pick would have been with Gianluca Paparesta
John

It happens every World Cup – the list of referees from around the World is produced and Blatter comes out with nonsense about them being the best 23 refs in the World. How can that be possible Sepp? Yes, it’s a step forward in diversity, but it does take away from the quality. OK, maybe I am being a little eurocentric here, but watching the quality of reffing in tournaments such as the African Nations Cup, the Copa Libertadores and the Copa America and the Confederations Cup and the World Club Cup (everyone remembers Liverpool being robbed by Palmeiras) – well frankly it is cringeworthy at times. Yes there needs to be a spread of refs from various countries, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be more than just the one from the top countries in europe and south america does it? These guys are used to the pressure of the game at the highest level, play with most of the players on show in Germany week in, week out, so why not use their talent instead of diluting the quality?
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/viennot-in-running-to-become-first-female-world-cup-linesman.html Viennot in Running to Become First Female World Cup Linesman – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

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http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/world-cup-hero-coffi-codjia.html World Cup Hero: Coffi Codjia – FIFA World Cup 2006 – World Cup 2006 Blog

[...] When the list of the World Cup referees was released a few years back the first name that leaped out on the page was Coffi Codjia. The name itself is kind of cool, but the fact that he is from Benin really caught my interest. [...]
don

I have not seen any other games refereed by Coffi Codjia, but in the Spain vs. Saudi Arabia game in the 2006 world cup, he has done a fundamentally BAD job. He made both bad calls and bad non-calls. Mind you, I am a Spain fan, but, even then, I feel that he has been fundamentally unfair to the Saudi team. What a bad referee.
Layla

How on earth was Coffi Codjia chosen to be a referee in World Cup 2006?? I saw yesterday’s match (Saudi Arabia Vs. Spain 23rd of June) the guy is obviously extremely biased in favor of Spain. What was he thinking giving Nawaf Altumiat a yellow card when in fact he was pushed by one of the Spanish team members? FIFA should have strict regulations to punish such referees for such an unjust and awful performance.
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