At some point UEFA will need to put their foot down again concerning football’s spoiled-rotten cry babies and players swarming referees over controversial calls in matches. Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir allowed a little too much of that overenthusiastic but blatantly unsportsmanlike behaviour in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League victory by Barcelona … Continue reading
UEFA has missed the boat once again, this time in their handling of Wednesday’s controversial red card to Paris Saint Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Instead of sending off the Swedish international, referee Bjorn Kuipers and Chelsea midfielder Oscar should be the ones facing disciplinary action instead of the Ibrahimovic. The Dutch official and … Continue reading
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has a right to be hopping mad at referee Bjorn Kuipers. Kuipers ended Liverpool’s Champions League dream on Tuesday with a surprise and unjustified red card for halftime substitute Lazar Markovic in the Reds draw with FC Basel of Switzerland. Markovic, a promising 20-year-old winger from … Continue reading
North American football fans have been painfully aware of dysfunctional Major League Soccer officiating since the league first kicked off in 1996. The level of play in the MLS may have greatly improved since its inception but on Wednesday in Portland MLS referee Jair Marrufo showed the rest of the … Continue reading
Maybe he was just looking for some sympathy after a crushing defeat but Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini will face the music following his post-match criticism of Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson. European football’s governing body UEFA have charged the Argentine manager with misconduct for his comments made after his team … Continue reading
The fans have spoken but apparently Joseph Blatter and FIFA are not listening. Referee Howard Webb, winner of RedCardTheRef’s poll for worst referee in the English Premier League, was named to FIFA’s list of referees and match officials for the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Webb’s assistants will be … Continue reading
AND NOW WE GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE: Referee Kevin Friend somehow missed Luis Suarez and his now infamous bite to the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic but the rest of the world along with stadium video cameras didn’t. Suarez received a ten-match ban for his indiscreet little nibble on Ivanovic’s sleeve in … Continue reading