Mark Clattenburg takes another big step up the ladder on August 12, when he referees the UEFA Super Cup. He’ll be in the middle when the winners of the 2013 Champions League, Real Madrid, take on the winners of the Europa League, Sevilla, in Cardiff, Wales. His preferred team, Simon Beck and Stuart Burt, will be his assistants, and Darren England
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You have questions. I have answers. 1.) Is <insert referee here> a <insert team here> fan? It is a peculiar aspect of footballing physics that, inevitably, every referee – on any given day – is a fan of the team opposing yours. (Except my poor, stupid Spurs; no referee ever seems to be a Spurs fan.) There is no better illustration
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So, let’s talk about the whole Europa League final tempest in a teapot, shall we? First of all, I thought overall Dr. Felix Brych and his all-German team did a fairly decent job with what was a very tough, very fast-paced game. And I don’t like to argue over non-penalty calls. Everyone has their own opinions on whether or not
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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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Surprise! Not really. As I predicted, the Dutchman and the German will take the Champions League and Europa League finals. Bjorn Kuipers, a supermarket owner from the Netherlands, will manage the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in Lisbon, Portugal on May 24. Read more about Kuipers appointment on UEFA.com. Dr. Felix Brych, who is from Germany
Read moreI get a report every day that tells me what people are searching for when they land on Play the Advantage. Between that report and my inbox, I have a pretty good idea of the burning questions people are dying to get answered. In the spirit of service that permeates everything I do, I’m starting a new feature to answer said burning questions. So,
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I am not a referee. But many of my friends and new readerfriends (a word I totally just made up) are referees, so it’s meant that I’ve started watching refs with a different eye than I did when I first became an officiating fangirl, way back when. (Which basically went something like: “Oh, he’s cute. I’m a fan.”) Take Mark Clattenburg’s Europa
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So, it’s no World Cup, but a Europa League semifinal is a pretty good consolation prize for England’s Mark Clattenburg (above). Clatts has had a truly outstanding year, both internationally and in Premier League, where he’s successfully taken charge of numerous big games. It is just a shame that he did not get this tournament final, and makes the fact
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The Europa League semifinal referees for the first leg are Damir Skomina and Cuneyt Cakir. This is a pretty good appointment. The Slovenian, Skomina, has advanced through the ranks quickly, and was a candidate for Brazil. He didn’t make it, but that was partly down to his team. He’s a good referee who should be able to handle the heat
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Here are the referees for the Europa League Quarterfinals, to be played April 10 Pavel Kralovec (CZECH) Benfica v. AZ Kralovec is a popular referee within FIFA, who was on the top 52 list for the World Cup, but didn’t quite make it. Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP), Juventus v. Lyon Undiano is also not on the World Cup list, losing
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