Pedro Proença heads all Iberian team at Munich's UEFA Champions League final

Pedro Proença's final appointment, which was already communicated on Sunday, has unfolded to be true. He will head an all Iberian team of seven match officials including the Spanish ELITE referee Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain.

Pedro Proença (POR) (c) UEFA.com

UEFA has confirmed that the 41 year-old Portuguese referee will be in charge of this season's greatest match in worldwide club football.

Proença, who works as financial director in Pinhal Novo, a small town between Lisbon and Setubal, made his FIFA bow in 2003 and has been joining the UEFA Champions League roster since 2007. He has already overseen a total amount of 42 UEFA club competition matches. The Portuguese is able to speak apart from his mother tongue also French and English. Enjoying reading, writing and movies as well as skiing as leisure time activties, he has taken a significantly rising development since his participation at the 2009 UEFA U21 EURO Sweden. Before that, he also joined the 2004 UEFA U19 EURO Switzerland, where he refereed his thus far first international final between Turkey and Spain. 

His biggest success is - apart from the pending UEFA Champions League final - the nomination for the 2012 UEFA EURO Poland/Ukraine. As part of the qualification mode, he took control over the playoff's 2nd leg between Croatia and Turkey as well.
Besides, he refereed the 2007 and 2010 Portuguese Cup finals and also ran the rule over two FC Porto successes in the domestic Super Cup in August 2003 and 2006. 

In compliance with the decision made by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), there will be a team of six officials, as it has been a common practice at the highest level of European club football, plus one reserve assistant referee. 

Hence, Bertino Miranda and Ricardo Santos will act as assistant referees, whereas Manuel de Sousa and Duarte Gomes (themselves UEFA First Group referees) will serve as additional assistant referees. The team is completed by Tiago Trigo, the reserve official who comes from Portugal, too, and Carlos Velasco Carballo from Spain as fourth official, himself an ELITE referee also joining the forthcoming European Championship, who has by the way the experience how it feels to be appointed for a tremendously important final: he was in charge of last season's UEFA Europa League final at Dublin Arena. 

The team will be observed and evaluated by the Slovenian UEFA Referee Committee member Vlado Sajn. Sofoklis Pilavios from Greece will execute the match as UEFA Delegate.

It is naturally difficult to characterize the typical tactical approach a certain referee normally applies in his matches. While UEFA has proven their satisfaction about a lenient style of refereeing in the last year, when the more likely generous referees Viktor Kassai (Hungary) and Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain) received the final call-ups, they have underlined the high degree of diversity in this field as well.

Proença certainly counts to the more pedantic referees, who take technical aspects more seriously then others, although he also confirmed his great feeling for the right tactical approach in different matches. This means that he possesses the ability to adapt his approach, his style to the circumstances of the respective match. A value or rather skill one has to appreciate a lot.

He allows fair and hard football, but only to a certain extent. Concerning his card management one can say that - as it is typical of Iberian officials - he does not hesitate to issue cards if necessary.

In the interval from January 2011 to May 2012, he is at the moment occupying the 6th place in World of Football Refereeing's ranking displaying the performances shown in UEFA competitions. With this final nomination, he will be able to be vaulted at the peak of this ranking prior to UEFA EURO 2012. At any rate, UEFA has made a good decision to appoint this Portuguese for the German-English tie between Bayern München and FC Chelsea London. In the last season, he has already shown that he is capable of refereeing such a tie very well, when he was in charge of a comparable match between Manchester United and FC Schalke 04.

Bertino Miranda (POR) (c) World of Football Refereeing

It is remarkable that this team has received the final against a certain background. Bertino Miranda had accompanied Olegário Benquerença throughout his international career, before latter disappeared from the peak of UEFA refereeing due to (weak performances and) a serious injury. This means that - at least in UEFA Champions League - Proença and Miranda only experienced one match together, which was the round of 16 encounter between Internazionale and Olympique Marseille (they also worked together in a UCL match in 2008). And now, they will perform a UEFA Champions League final and a European Championship together. It is potentially or obviously no problem for UEFA, in comparison to many other European teams that will act in Poland/Ukraine, it is at least remarkable after all.

Ricardo Santos is familiar with Pedro Proença and showed good performances as well. Manuel de Sousa and Duarte Gomes were in charge of a few club competition matches this season themselves and are now ready for this big task. Tiago Trigo is the unlucky man in the team, even though he was actually one of the guarantor of Proença's success, he was replaced by Miranda, who seems to be liked more. 

For Carlos Velasco Carballo - as already stated - it is the second UEFA final in a row. With the benefit of hindsight, this appointment appears as quite sensible and a decision one should have been able to predict. It will not occur that often that no Spanish club will be involved in a UEFA Champions League final. Born in 1971, Velasco therefore needs a lot of luck to be able to referee one day the final as main referee.

The match will be kicked off on Saturday, 19 May 2012, at 20:45 CET.

World of Football Refereeing and its community wishes the officials all the best for a sucessful final.

Inconceivable incidents at Bundesliga relegation match

When Wolfgang Stark blew the kick-off whistle at yesterday's 2nd leg of the Bundesliga relegation tie between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hertha BSC Berlin at Esprit Arena before 50.000 visitors, he could not know that this would become the most incredible match German football has probably ever seen.
But, one by one..

As it is common for three years now in Bundesliga, the 16th in the Bundesliga ranking has to play a relegation tie against the 3rd positioned team of 2nd Bundesliga. This includes a first and also a second leg. Last week, the 2nd Bundesliga high flyer Fortuna Düsseldorf managed to win at Berlin's Olympiastadium by 2-1.
Yesterday, after only 31 seconds of played time, Düsseldorf smoothed the path as Maximilian Beister scored after a fabulous strike. In the course of the first half however, Hertha BSC managed to apply their technical quality they actually never managed to show this season and consequently equalized by a header after a correct free kick.

Idiots having thrown bengalos onto the pitch (c) WELT

Later, in the second half, the match became more intense and Stark had a lot of work to do. Remarkable was also DFB's appointment: after Jan-Hendrik Salver made a wrong and match decisive mistake in Fortuna's match against Eintracht Frankfurt, they simply decided to replace him for this important match. Hence, Mike Pickel and Wolfgang Walz accompanied the German EURO referee along with Markus Wingenbach acting as fourth official. Anyway, Änis Ben Hatira was shown the 2nd yellow card in the early second half was therefore dismissed. He made a dangerous foot-up tackle solely based on wantonness and even frustration. A correct call. Only a few moments later, Düsseldorf performed a tremendously perfect counterattack and scored the 2-1. It was the moment when Stark had to interrupt the match for the first time. Bengalos were inflamed, thrown in the direction of other visitors' tribunes and even thrown onto the pitch by Hertha fans - no, the term "fans" is not adequate, I will continue writing this post by deploying the term "idiots" - by Hertha idiots. Wolfgang Stark waited for a short while, clearly emphasized upon consultation with the DFL match commissioner and the DFB executive Dr. Rainer Koch at the sideline that the match would be abandoned as soon as there would have been one further incident. This admonition was sensible, the match could finally continue. Hertha BSC scored the 2-2 in the late stages of the regular time which meant that they only needed one further goal to stay in Bundesliga. And then, one of the most exciting moments in such a match, Markus Wingenbach signaled the official additional time of 7 minutes, which was absolutely adequate. 

Hertha made their last desperate attempts, Düsseldorf's Jovanovic then appeared freely in front of the Hertha goalkeeper, but did not score. What happened then, equates a nightmare. When Thomas Kraft, the goalkeeper, wanted to restart the match, Stark suddenly whistled in a heavy way, the whole players made sprints into the dressing rooms. Let me say that I have never seen Stark running thus fast. Even though it is unbelievable, the fans stormed the pitch one minute before the 97' minute was played. Fortuna Düsseldorf supporters stormed the pitch in masses. The whole pitch was covered, there were attacks on Hertha players. With heavy efforts and approximately many hundred forces - police as well as stewards - the mob calmed down. The stadium announcer tried everything to make the people be clear that the match was not finished. There were fans already unearthing the penalty spot as kind of remembrance, attempting to carve parts of the goal net. As neutral spectators in front of the TV, which also counts for the commentary who was of course at the tribunes, one could not believe what one had seen. Honestly speaking, one sat there for 15 minutes, watched the incidents open-mouthed. 

Supporters storming the pitch minutes before the final whistle (c) RP

Thousands of supporters were on the field (c) Kicker

Stark's and Pickel's way into their dressing rooms (c) Tagesspiegel

After the mob had finally calmed down, referee Wolfgang Stark returned on the pitch along with his team again and visualized the situation. Along with Koch and the DFL commissioner, he decided to restart the match as soon as the internal space of the stadium would be free in compliance with the laws of the game. After again 15 minutes of resting and waiting, Düsseldorf and the referees returned onto the pitch. No sign from Hertha BSC Berlin. Stark and Wingenbach visited them in the dressing room, the DFL commissioner accompanied them. Finally, they returned as well. Stark let the play restart for 90 seconds, blew the final whistle, and again everybody sprinted as fast as possible to escape the thousands of visitors who wanted to celebrate the promotion. 

The capital's club is considering a protest against the result. DFB has started investigations. As immeasurable the consequences of abandonment would have been, as immeasurable the punishments will probably be, too.

Today, it was communicated by the lawyer of Hertha BSC Berlin that it was the police who asked Berlin to return onto the pitch as the consequences of an abandoned match immeasurable. He furthermore stated that the Berlin players dwelled in mortal fear in the dressing room. 

Probably, Stark, who showed an excellent performance after all and who was really willing to conduct this 97 minutes if it is possible, was coerced to restart the match as well. Let me say that, finally, it was actually not possible to restart the match. 

Anyway, after this match, Stark is ready for everything...
Herbert Fandel has emphasized his pleasure that DFB had appointed Stark for this match and stated that they were glad how he managed to maintain control over the match until the end.

VIDEO

Ivan Kružliak appointed for UEFA U17 EURO Final

The up-and-comer referee Ivan Kružliak from Slovakia has been nominated to blow the final whistle at this year's UEFA U17 EURO Slovenia between Germany and the Netherlands. The match will be kicked off in Ljubljana on Wednesday, 16th May, at 18:00 CET.

(c) UEFA.com

The 28 year-old, who enjoys sports and reading in his leisure time, is therefore rewarded for his good performances in his two group stage encounters, which were the duels between Georgia and Germany (0-1) and between the Dutchmen and Belgium (0-0). Ivan Kružliak managed his FIFA bow at the start of 2011.

He will be assisted by Haralds Gudermanis (LVA) and Milutin Djukić (MNE), while Mattias Gestranius (FIN) will function as fourth official.


Ivan Kružliak spoke to Dan Ross, UEFA.com, about his final nomination and career path in general.

The UEFA European Under-17 Championship provides as important an opportunity for match officials as it does for players. Slovakia's Ivan Kružliak, the referee selected to officiate tomorrow's final, is testament to that, as he prepares for the biggest match of his career to date. He spoke to UEFA.com about his time in Slovenia and how he came to take up his whistle.

UEFA.com: When did you first become involved in officiating? 

Ivan Kružliak: I started at 16. My father and his friends were all referees so it was always in my mind that one day I could do it. Then I had quite a serious injury to my hand. I was a goalkeeper, so I had to stop playing for half a year. That's when I began my refereeing career, then when I was 21 I had to choose if I wanted to play or be a referee. I think I chose right. Now I'm 28, so some people might call me experienced, but I'm still young and this is my first final tournament.

UEFA.com: How have you found your first final tournament?

Kružliak: It has been really good, the organisation has been excellent. We have had perfect conditions for training, and the stadiums are great. All teams have behaved well, nothing serious has happened, so we've enjoyed it.

UEFA.com: The referees are all in the same base. Do you analyse each other's performances?

Kružliak: After each game we have a briefing with an observer, where we watch clips of situations and analyse them. The first meeting is just with the team of officials from that game, but then we have a meeting as a group and we watch videos of the other games to learn from our colleagues and also look at the teams themselves for our future games.

UEFA.com: That analysis must be valuable...

Kružliak: It is a very useful experience. As referees joke, "learn from mistakes, but the mistakes of another referee". It is not possible to be faultless every time, we are only human. But I think that so far in Slovenia everything has been good from our side, which is very important.

UEFA.com: Only one team can officiate the final, how does the selection process work?

Kružliak: At the beginning there are six referees and eight assistants, then the Referees Committee has the big task of picking the best performers to stay for the semi-final and the final.

UEFA.com: How does it feel to be the man in the middle for the final?

Kružliak: When I started my refereeing career I never thought I would be in the FIFA list – now I'm in the final of this European Championship! It is a great feeling, a great experience and I am really enjoying it. I'm not nervous yet, but before every game I think a referee should feel a little nervous. It helps them to concentrate and to prepare for the game.

source: UEFA.com

Sajn and Vassaras reflect the benefit for the U17 EURO referees

As the still ongoing UEFA U17 EURO in Slovenia is hitting the home stretch, UEFA Referee Committee members Vlado Sajn and Kyros Vassaras retrospect the achievements and experiences the active officials were able to savour in an interview with UEFA.com:

(c) UEFA.com

UEFA.com: Could you tell us your role in Slovenia?

Vlado Sajn: Our role is to explain the UEFA guidelines to the young referees. Here we have mostly referees with just one or two years of international experience, so we are here to help them with the guidelines in order to achieve as much consistency and uniformity in these tournaments as possible. We are here also to support them in any other aspect they need.

UEFA.com: Have you seen a benefit to your presence at these tournaments?

Sajn: Certainly. We have individual feedback and analysis with the refereeing teams after every matchday with hot topics and the whole group discusses the important match situations. Hopefully they will go back home with new perspectives or new information. It is important to say that they are
not inexperienced referees, as they are top in their particular countries, but on the international stage they are inexperienced. It is beneficial for them to learn and do well here. If they do, the doors to their future are open.

UEFA.com: Do you also educate the players at these tournaments?

Kyros Vassaras: We do. The Referees Committee produce a DVD in order to go over interesting clips and topics and to inform the teams on the instructions that we have provided referees. The type of decisions to expect from referees, for example. We try to educate them on avoiding unsporting
behaviour, simulation, and holding and pushing in the penalty area. It is better for the teams not to have yellow cards and it improves the image of the game. It is also for the protection of the players and to promote respect, both between the players and towards the officials.

UEFA.com: Have these methods been proven to be effective with players?

Sajn: Very much so. We started this at EURO 2008 and we were very happy with the results. We had very few dissent cases there, as we told them we would be very strict. There were also just two cases of holding in the area. After that we decided we would go forward and introduce this system
into all the age group final tournaments. This is our fifth year doing this now and I feel there are fewer misunderstandings between players and officials and fewer unnecessary bookings.

UEFA.com: How have the teams responded to the sessions?

Vassaras: The feedback from the teams this year has been very positive. When we finished our presentations, they agreed that we have to keep doing it and told us they would like to have it in their own countries at U15 and U13 level. It is really positive to think that there is a drive to introduce this at grassroots level across Europe.

source: UEFA.com

Related Posting:

UEFA U17 EURO 2012 - Match Officials

Referee Talents face upcoming challenges

Europe's up-and-coming referees have received an invaluable push forward in their further development from UEFA's talents and mentors programme – by which the young referees are provided with expert guidance by experienced former European international match officials.

(c) UEFA.com

The latest gathering of talents and mentors – 11 referees, nine assistants and six mentors – at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon provided additional enlightenment for the young referees, with a presentation ahead of last week’s UEFA Europa League final by Spanish match official Carlos Velasco Carballo. The referee for last year's final, he he explained how he prepared for that 2011 encounter between FC Porto and SC Braga in Dublin.

A number of major referees, both from the present and recent past, have begun their ascent to the top through the talents and mentors' course. "A total of 177 referees and 43 mentors have taken part in the programme over the past 12 years," said UEFA Referees' Committee member Jozef Marko, one of the initiators of the programme. "The aim is to support young referees throughout Europe in their efforts to improve, both individually and in teamwork with assistant referees. We encourage you to work hard to achieve better results."

Both domestic and international performances are observed to put young referees into the UEFA programme. The mentors and talents are in constant contact, and discussions range from the referees' performance to their diet and general conduct. UEFA's view is that young referees should be given the same careful nurturing as young footballers.

UEFA's Referee Talents along with Steve Bennett (3rd left)

In addition, the course included a practical training session along with the young referees taking part in training at UEFA's Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE). "Both the CORE programme and talents and mentors programme are here to give you the best opportunity from the best people in UEFA for instructing, coaching and mentoring," said UEFA Referees' Committee member David Elleray, senior course leader of CORE.

"The mentors have a huge amount of experience. Some of them were in Poland recently, coaching the referees for the EURO finals. Many of them have appeared in finals, so you have the best people to learn from. The responsibility is on you to learn and take information from them."

The practical session involved penalty area incidents, teamwork between referees and assistant referees, and special concentration work for the assistants, as well as an important session looking at injury prevention. "One of the worst things that can happen to any referee is to lose a big match through injury," said Elleray. "Injuries can come from lack of fitness, lack of preparation or occasionally bad luck. If you're fit and well-prepared, you are less likely to receive an injury.

"A talent doesn't mean that you have achieved something," he added. "It means we think that you have the possibility to achieve something. You must turn the potential that you have into the real thing."

European referees are being encouraged to include tactical analysis of teams in their preparation work. Velasco Carballo, one of the 12 UEFA EURO 2012 referees, gave a fascinating insight into his preparation for the 2011 UEFA Europa League final – how he studied information on the two finalists' tactics in attack and defence to know how to position himself, looked at the key players on each team, conveyed invaluable advance information and advice to his assistant referees to help their movement and awareness, and made use of key statistics.

The referees were also asked to analyse Wednesday's UEFA Europa League final in Bucharest, and Velasco Carballo was the ideal man on hand to review the incidents and events that occurred in the match between the two Spanish teams, Club Atlético de Madrid and Athletic Club.

source: UEFA.com

Related Posting:

UEFA Referee Talents Seminar - Nyon 2012

Pedro Proença in charge of 2012 UEFA Champions League Final

Pedro Proença Oliveira Alves Garcia from Lisbon, Portugal, has been appointed by UEFA to be in charge of this season's UEFA Champions League final between FC Bayern München and Chelsea London at Allianz Arena, München, Germany, on 19th May 2012.

He will be assisted by Bertino Miranda and Ricardo Santos as assistant referees, while Manuel de Sousa and Duarte Gomes will function as additional assistant referees along with José Tiago Trigo as reserve assistant referee. The fourth official comes from Spain: Carlos Velasco Carballo is his name.
UEFA Referee Committee member Vlado Sajn from Slovenia will observe and evaluate the team's performance.

  

The 41 year-old financial director from Portugal's capital has taken an immense development during the last years, its basis certainly was the quite successful participation in 2009 UEFA U21 EURO Sweden, where he oversaw three matches including a semifinal between Italy and the then winners Germany. 

His international milestones consist of last year's UEFA Champions League semifinal at Old Trafford between Manchester United and FC Schalke 04 as well as the fact that he joins, as the only Portuguese, the 2014 FIFA World Cup Prospective List of Referees.
He will also join the pending 2012 UEFA EURO Poland/Ukraine.

In the meantime, Proença has issued a statement saying that he was instructed by UEFA not to comment on yesterday's reports about his alleged final nomination.


More as soon as the announcement will have been made official.

source: Antena 1

Related Posting

UEFA Champions League final 2012 - Predictions

Mohamed Benouza suspended by the CFA

The Algerian Referee Commission (CFA) has suspended the former "almost-World Cup referee" Mohamed Benouza for the rest of the season following the suspicion of corruption.

This impression was aroused when Benouza showed according to the local observer's report a "very bad performance" in the local match between Sétif and El Harrach (3-2). 

As FIFA has appointed Benouza to referee the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifier match between Uganda and Senegal in Kampala City, the CFA has sent a video cassette with the concerned match to the world federation.

Mohamed Benouza had taken an enormous development a few years ago when he joined several FIFA tournaments including the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup Canada. In 2010, he was appointed for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, could not join it however as one of his assistant referees had failed the fitness tests.

His career highlights certainly were also the four participations in the African Cup of Nations from 2006 to 2012 (including the semifinal match between Zambia and Ghana).

source: Footafrique