Football Media

The FIFA Referees Committee, meeting in Zurich under the chairmanship of Ángel María Villar Llona (Spain) has appointed 30 referees representing 28 different countries for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

FIFA has implemented a comprehensive programme to ensure that the referees for its flagship competition are in peak condition come 11 June.

The road to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as it did for the 32 participating teams, began for an initial group of 54 trios of referees from all over the world in 2007 when the FIFA Executive Committee took the important decision of creating a Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP). One of the key objectives was to prepare this group of prospective referees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

As in previous years, the FIFA Refereeing Department – headed by Spanish former international referee José Maria García-Aranda who refereed at both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship – was responsible for coordinating and organising all of the activities involving the candidate referees.

The RAP working group, a team of international experts in the fields of refereeing technique, fitness and psychology was set up by FIFA to monitor and analyse all of the information on the candidate referees, involving those responsible for refereeing in each confederation. The FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) were another key group in this process.

The latest technology has been implemented in the preparation of the referees both within practical training, and interactive sessions, whilst performances at respective FIFA competitions were also analysed and evaluated.

Theoretical tests undertaken exclusively in English – which has been the lingua franca for FIFA’s referees for many years – to ensure appropriate knowledge of the Laws of the Game, the regulations for FIFA competitions and the directives of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) were also a regular feature during the last three years.

The group of 30 trios of referees selected will participate in a training seminar next month.

In May, a final assessment will be conducted and a decision made regarding the acting and support referees prior to the first match appointments being made for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

The groups will be contested according to a league system on a home-and-away basis, with games scheduled between September 2010 and October 2011.

The nine winners and the runner-up with the best record against the top five sides in their pool qualify directly for the final tournament, the last before the championship is expanded to 24 teams. The eight remaining runners-up go into play-off matches in November 2011 to decide the final four sides to join co-hosts Poland and Ukraine.

Group A
Germany
Turkey
Austria
Belgium
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan

Group B
Russia
Slovakia
Republic of Ireland
FYR Macedonia
Armenia
Andorra

Group C
Italy
Serbia
Northern Ireland
Slovenia
Estonia
Faroe Islands

Group D
France
Romania
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Belarus
Albania
Luxembourg

Group E
Netherlands
Sweden
Finland
Hungary
Moldova
San Marino

Group F
Croatia
Greece
Israel
Latvia
Georgia
Malta

Group G
England
Switzerland
Bulgaria
Wales
Montenegro

Group H
Portugal
Denmark
Norway
Cyprus
Iceland

Group I
Spain
Czech Republic
Scotland
Lithuania
Liechtenstein

Bye to finals (hosts)
Poland
Ukraine

The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, 4 February 2010 endorsed by means of an “Award by Consent” the settlement of a dispute announced by Chelsea Football Club, England, and Racing Club de Lens, France.

This brings an end to the appeal arbitration procedure before the CAS panel in charge of the proceedings. By means of the Award by Consent rendered by CAS, the latter has approved and ratifies the terms of the settlement agreement reached by the two clubs as well as the player, Gaël Kakuta, whose move to the English club had been the basis for the dispute.

The FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) had issued a first ruling that also banned Chelsea Football Club from registering any new players for two registration periods. However, as the wording of the agreement (link to the CAS media release provided below) completely changes the facts given at the moment the DRC passed its decision, FIFA did not oppose to CAS issuing the Award by Consent under the new circumstances.

FIFA always actively encourages clubs to try to resolve disputes by means of amicable settlements rather than litigation. The dispute resolution system provided by world football’s governing body is only intended as a last resort.

Castrol becomes the second UEFA EURO 2012™ global partner

UEFA and Castrol announced that their partnership, which started in Austria and Switzerland for UEFA EURO 2008™, will continue with UEFA EURO 2012™ in Poland and Ukraine. Castrol therefore become the second global partner for UEFA’s flagship national team competition following on from the previous announcement of the adidas agreement.

Castrol used its UEFA EURO 2008™ sponsorship to launch and pioneer the Castrol Index and subsequently the Castrol Rankings, innovative ways of objectively measuring and ranking player performance, which were developed using exclusive data and with the advice from football experts. These programmes will remain key pillars of their approach to the UEFA EURO 2012™ agreement.

“Our investment in football has proved a tremendous success and allowed Castrol to add value to our business partners; excited and rewarded fans; and motivated our staff,” said Senior Vice President for Lubricants, Mike Johnson.

Commenting on the announcement, David Taylor, CEO of UEFA Events S.A., said:

“The commitment of Castrol to sponsor UEFA EURO 2012™ is a further vote of confidence in the tournament ahead of the Qualifying Draw in Warsaw on 7 February.
“Castrol has proven to be an innovative partner for UEFA and European football and we are delighted that this mutually beneficial relationship is set to continue.”