Referee (football)

A referee presides over a game of association football (soccer). The referee has "full authority to enforce the Laws of the Game in connection with the match to which he has been appointed" (Law 5), and the referee's decisions regarding facts connected with play are final, so far as the result of the game is concerned.

List of famous football referees

In England:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Ken Aston (deceased, invented red and yellow cards)
• David Elleray (retired)
• Phillip Don (retired)
• Keith Hackett (retired)
• Jack Taylor (retired)
• George Courtney (retired)
• Paul Durkin (retired)
• Graham Barber (retired)
• Jeff Winter (retired)
• Neale Barry
• Stephen Bennett
• Mark Clattenburg
• Michael Dean
• Stephen Dunn
• Andrew D'Urso
• Dermot Gallagher
• Mark Halsey
• Matthew Messias
• Graham Poll
• Michael Riley
• Robert Styles
• Peter Walton
• Howard Webb
• Alan Wiley
• Phillip Sharp
• Glenn Turner
• Mark Warren

In Scotland:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Hugh Dallas MBE
• Stuart Dougal

In Wales:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Clive Thomas (retired)

In Italy:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Pierluigi Collina (retired)
• Massimo De Santis

In Germany:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Markus Merk
• Wolfgang Stark
• Robert Hoyzer (second division referee, became involved in a match fixing scandal)

In France:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Gilles Veissiere
• Marc Batta
• Alain Sars

In Holland:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• René Temmink
• Dick Jol

In Denmark:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Kim Milton Nielsen
• Claus Bo Larsen

In Sweden:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Anders Frisk (retired)
• Leif Lindberg
• Peter Frojdfeldt

In Norway:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Terje Hauge
• Tom Henning Ovrebo
• Rune Pedersen

In Belgium:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Frank De Bleeckere

In Switzerland:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Urs Meier

In Austria:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Gunter Benko
• Konrad Plautz
• Fritz Stuchlik

In Luxembourg:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Alain Hamer

In Spain:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Manuel Enrique Mejuto González
• Manuel Díaz Vega

In Portugal:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista

In Russia:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Valentin Ivanov
• Tofik Bakhramov (the infamous 'Russian Linesman' from the 1966 World Cup Final; actually, an Azeri)

In Greece:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Kyros Vassaras

In Slovakia:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Lubos Michel

In Brazil:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Arnaldo César Coelho (retired)
• Armando Marques (retired)
• Carlos Eugênio Simon
• Paulo César de Oliveira
• Ana Paula de Oliveira

In Ecuador:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Byron Moreno (retired)

In Japan:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Toshimitsu Yoshida

In Australia:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Mark Shield