We’re getting closer and closer to World Cup 2014, and so naturally I’ve got my eye on the men who will be in the middle in Brazil. Undoubtedly the most recognizable man is England’s Howard Webb. Webb is best known for refereeing the final match of the 2010 tournament. He’s back as England’s refereeing representative, along with his assistants, Darren Cann
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As we gear up for the World Cup, I’m pretty chuffed to welcome the refereeing blogger known as L’Arbitre to Play the Advantage. He’s going to be sharing a series that’s all about the technology referees will use in Brazil. If you’re a referee geek like me, you’re going to love this. To start us off, he’s gone straight for the Big
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In an apparent attempt to humanize the World Cup referees, FIFA has posted cutesy little bios of each of them on the World Cup 2014 website. It’s kind of a form that you fill out with your basic stats: how tall you wish you were are, your language, how many years you’ve been doing this, etc. The bios are accompanied by the
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When Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid clash in the Champions League final on Saturday, one of refereeing’s rising stars will be in the middle: Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands. And who better to help us get to know a distinguished Dutch referee than…a Dutch referee? Or rather, The Dutch Referee. If you haven’t checked out Jan’s blog, I’d highly recommend
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“Dang it, Jim, I’m an astronomer, not a doctor! I mean, I am a doctor, but I’m not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate, it’s not the same thing. You can’t help people with a doctorate, you just sit there, and you’re useless!” – Dr. Doppler, Disney’s Treasure Planet When Benfica and Sevilla meet in Turin, Italy on May
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The last time France did not have a referee in the World Cup was somewhere around 1357. Or 1974. Whatever. It’s been a while. But unfortunately, Stephane Lannoy gets that ignominious “honour”. Let’s get it out of the way right now: Lannoy is a good referee. Granted, his performance at the 2010 World Cup was hardly stellar. In the Ivory
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First of all, how cool is it to see a feature article about World Cup referees on Wall Street Journal? Really cool, I would say. The piece, by Gabriele Marcotti and published on January 19, is titled: Fine Line for World Cup Referees Byzantine Selection Process Will Leave Top Talent Missing in Brazil I think you can get a pretty
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Now that we know who’s going to the World Cup, here are my initial thoughts on the choices. I’m focusing right now on the Europeans, since I know them best. Felix Brych, Germany Brych has been on the ascendancy in Germany for quite some time. Wolfgang Stark has been the number one in Germany until now, but over the past
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I’ll analyze this list more in the coming days, but a couple of notes: Mark Geiger from the US is in. Go, Mark. Mark Clattenburg from England, despite having had a good year, was passed over for Howard Webb, who refereed the final in 2010. Clatts is only 38, so he’ll have another shot. Europe’s referees are mostly the old
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 