The Men Who Will Decide World Cup 2010

June 7th, 2010 | by: chris |

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Not the players, silly – the men in black. Or orange. Or morally gray day-glo bright @#$%ing yellow.

The Guardian put out a list of the referees for this year’s World Cup, which is rather pedestrian as lists go (at least until the game starts and people are looking for the address of Public Enemy No. 1’s auntie’s summer home). But accompanying that list are their “real” professions, the ones which don’t involve sweaty men yelling at them, overzealous fans threatening their nonexistent sisters, and the lone requirement of utmost perfection.

Because admit it – you want to know what they do, don’t you?

We can only hope this is cut and pasted from a FIFA pdf in the bowels of the website in which the first name is very much first for reasons which can only be deciphered deep in our imaginations. (They hate Ireland?)

Martin Hansson, Sweden, Firefighter

Howard Webb, England, Referee

Stéphane Lannoy, France, Video games distributor

Viktor Kassai, Hungary, Travel agent

Roberto Rosetti, Italy, Physiotherapist

Olegário Benquerença, Portugal, Insurance agent

Wolfgang Stark, Germany, Bank employee

Massimo Busacca, Switzerland, Managing director

Oscar Ruiz, Colombia, Lawyer

Marco Rodriguez, Mexico, PE teacher

Jorge Larrionda, Uruguay, Clerk

Carlos Amarilla, Paraguay, Electrical engineer

Alberto Undiano Mallenco, Spain, Sociologist

Frank De Bleeckere, Belgium, PR manager

Hector Baldassi, Argentina, Businessman

Pablo Pozo, Chile, Auditor

Carlos Eugenio Simon, Brazil, Referee

Khalil Al Ghamdi, Saudi Arabia, Teacher

Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbekistan, Instructor

Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh, Malaysia, Teacher

Yuichi Nishimura, Japan, Referee

Koman Coulibaly, Mali, Financial inspector

Mohamed Benouza, Algeria, Businessman

Jerome Damon, South Africa, Teacher

Eddy Maillet, Seychelles, Referee co-ordinator

Joel Aguilar, El Salvador, Teacher

Benito Archundia, Mexico, Lawyer

Carlos Batres, Guatemala, Bachelor of science

Peter O’Leary, New Zealand, Teacher

Michael Hester, New Zealand, Naval officer

[link]

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://www.mcalcio.com Marco P.

Why is Howard Webb listed as “referee”, when the “Les Arbitres” film clearly states he is a policeman?
The_Alchemist

He might have turned professional because of the film. But what a nice variation of jobs: from firefighter to video games distributor (is this a profession now?) to sociologist. I assume Carlos Batres is unemployed and looking for a job as he tells us only about his university degree.
Bense235

He's a pro now. The English F.A. introduced the model of pro referees.
Vic90

amazing how just two of them are pro refs.