We now know who will referee the semifinals for the Champions League and Europa League. So, it’s time to make our predictions for the finals. Champions League: Bjorn Kuipers, Netherlands Bjorn Kuipers (above, left) is easily considered one of the top referees in the world, and will represent The Netherlands at the World Cup finals in Brazil. He was in contention
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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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It’s official: Chelsea get the Honey Badger. Italy’s Nicola Rizzoli, who officiated the 2013 Champions League final, will referee the Chelsea v Atletico Madrid semifinal at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, April 30. This is bad news for Chelsea’s manager, Jose Mourinho, and his band of thugs. Rizzoli is known as heavy-handed with the cards, even internationally, and he has no
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Pedro Proenca of Portugal will referee the Champions League final game between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on Tuesday, April 29. Proenca is the most boring international referee around. And that’s good. You don’t get very far with a “pedro proenca controversy” google search because there’s just not much. He is a very consistent, deliberate referee who is very calm
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It must suck to be an Italian referee not named Nicola Rizzoli. He basically owns that league, and whenever there’s a big match, he’s pretty much like: “All your base are belong to us!”. Little dude’s not into sharing.* No other referee is really going to have a legitimate shot at anything cool until Rizzoli retires or gets the measles. In the meantime,
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The biggest game of the week is undoubtedly Liverpool v. Chelsea. Martin Atkinson (above) is up in the rotation for that one. Hopefully, foaming madman assistant coach Rui Faria will be suspended by then, so Atkinson doesn’t have to hire a bodyguard. Chris Foy, who took a Jonjo Shelvey deflection in the face last weekend, will be fourth official at Fulham
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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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The Atletico Madrid v. Chelsea Champions League semifinal will be officiated by The Big Swede: Jonas Eriksson. Eriksson has been very active in European action this season. In addition to some Europa league matches (including Tottenham’s), he refereed Manchester City v. Barcelona in the Group of 16 and Bayern Munich v. Manchester United in the quarterfinals. He’s performed pretty well in
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Here are the referees for this upcoming week in MLS. Top referee Hilario Grajeda (above) is in Columbus, while Chicago Fire v. New England Revolution wins the Best Referee Name of the Week award, with both Sorin Stoica and Kermit Quisenberry on board. Notice who’s missing? Mark Geiger, the United States representative at the World Cup. It’s been a few weeks since he’s
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The Serie A title is very nearly in Juventus’ pocket. But there’s still plenty to play for, particularly between second place Roma and fourth place Fiorentina. (And you have to wonder what Fiorentina could have done this year without the massive injuries – including to Giuseppe Rossi, who lost his lead on league goals weeks after he was injured.) Paolo Mazzoleni
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 