The final referee has now been announced. Read my post about it here.
With the semi-final referee appointments done I can finally get to predict who will get the top match . I’ve done this two previous years, though without any luck (2006, 2008.)
Last year our friend Lubos Michel refereed the game excellent, who will it be this year?
Previous years
Let us have a look at the previous final referees and when they refereed their last match before the final.
2008: Lubos Michel: Because he was injured a major part of the season his last match before the final was UEFA Cup semi-final 2nd leg.
2007: Herbert Fandel: Quarter-final 1st leg between AS Roma and Manchester United
2006: Terje Hauge: Quarter-final 2nd leg between Milan and Lyon
2005: Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez: Quarter-final 2nd leg between Bayern and Chelsea
From this we can, with some certainty, say that our referee will have refereed one of the quarter-finals. The referee will also need to be on the Elite list.
This year
We can start by having a look at the Elite group of referees.
Plautz Konrad, Austria Refereed UEFA Cup semi-final
De Bleeckere Frank, Belgium Refereed UEFA Cup semi-final
Larsen Claus Bo, Denmark Refereed CL semi-final
Riley Michael, England English team will be playing
Webb Howard Melton, England English team will be playing
Duhamel Laurent, France Last refereed 1st knockout stage
Layec Bertrand, France Last refereed 1st knockout stage
Fandel Herbert, Germany Not refereed in the knockout stage
Meyer Florian, Germany Not refereed in the knockout stage
Stark Wolfgang, Germany Refereed CL semi-final
Vassaras Kyros, Greece Injured
Kassai Viktor, Hungary Not refereed in the knockout stage
Rosetti Roberto, Italy Refereed CL semi-final
Trefoloni Matteo Simone, Italy Not refereed in the knockout stage
Hamer Alain, Luxembourg
Braamhaar Eric F. J., Netherlands Not refereed in the knockout stage
Vink Pieter, Netherlands Last match UEFA quarter-final
Hauge Terje, Norway Not refereed in the knockout stage
Ovrebo Tom Henning, Norway Refereed CL semi-final
Bartolo Faustino Benquerença Olegario Manuel, Portugal Refereed UEFA Cup semi-final
Baskakov Iouri, Russia Not refereed in the knockout stage
Medina Cantalejo Luis, Spain Spanish team is playing
Mejuto Gonzalez Manuel Enrique, Spain Spanish team is playing
Undiano Mallenco Alberto, Spain Spanish team is playing
Hansson Martin, Sweden Last refereed 1st knockout round
Busacca Massimo, Switzerland-> Candidate, refereed the 2nd leg of Porto – Manchester United
We’re left with
After this simple elimination process we are left with one referee:
Massimo Busacca, Switzerland
Massimo Busacca
The Swiss national refereed the UEFA Cup final in 2007 between Espanyol and Sevilla. He also participated in EURO 2008 where he got to referee three games including the semi-final between Germany and Turkey. Recently he refereed the 2nd leg between Porto and Manchester United. On the preselected list of referees eligible for 2010 World Cup.
My prediction for the two finals:
Champions League final: Massimo Busacca, Switzerland
UEFA Cup final: Luis Medina Cantalejo, Spain
If you have any guesses or wishes please feel free to comment.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
The prediction is ok all what am look forward for is honesty,so that the good team would not be denied of their destiny.God is looking at every one us,let us be careful.
In my opinion the final will be refereed by Frank De Bleeckere (BEL). Busacca is young, he ll be able to do it next years.
@fred De Bleeckere refereed the last semi-final involving Hamburg and Bremen. As pointed out in the post it’s not normal to let UEFA Cup semi-final referees referee the CL final.
Last year with Lubos Michel I believe was due to him being injured a major part of the spring.
Yes Martin, I get your point … Busacca is a strong contender also. But De Bleeckere is 43 or 44 and the Swiss is much younger. Both are UEFA elite referees…but maybe Busacca can do it next year, or the other, or the other… If I was UEFA Committeee, I´d pick the Belgian in case something happens (see Lubos Achilles T. problem).
@Fred
I’m not as sure he’s up to the task of refereeing a final of this magnitude. The last match he refereed in CL was the game Liverpool – Real Madrid in the first knockout round and he didn’t impress me. Though, he did a very good job during the Hamburg and Bremen semi-final.
If UEFA were to choose the best referee to do the final I believe Busacca is better than De Bleeckere. I hope they do as I think he would do a great job.
All I want is a referee who can distinguish between a clean ball winning tackle and a dive. The diver from United is probably gonna be Ronaldo whilst we can count on at least 6 out of 11 Barcelona players to provide us with antics. With Vidic(a very hard tackler) playing, I wouldn’t want him getting sent off for a clean tackle which one of the Barca defenders decides to milk. No Spanish refs please, they seem to have the football is a non- contact sport mentality,
I would be very surprised seeing a Spanish referee appointed to this final as the Spanish side Barcelona is playing.
I must agree with your prediction. Busacca is really the only one left, though I still belive Frank De Bleeckere would be far better qualified. But as you well pointed out he won’t ref this match. This really has been a hard year for UEFA with the loss of some very well qualified referees. Peter Frojdfeldt star of the Euro 2008 is to old and forced to retire. Lubos Micheal retired of injury. Kyros Vassaras is injured and I believe retired as well. Herbert Fandel is no where to be seen. This is why we have been getting some poor refereeing because there is no good refs left (well there are still some). UEFA doesn’t have many choices and that’s probably why we had Ovrebo a week ago.
I agree that we’ve lost many excellent referees this year, but I do not believe Øvrebø was a last resort. He’s one of the most experienced referees with numerous good appointments from UEFA. I agree that the performance may not have been very good, but when UEFA announced him I felt it was a correct choice.
I am not so sure anymore if the old ‘rules’ where a referee is excluded from taking charge of the final having had a semi-final is in place anymore. We had Michel last year, and this year’s round of 16 had Wolfgang Stark referee in both legs.
Stark seem to have some admirer in the referee committee having been appointed to seven Champions League games this season (three in group stage, four in final stage.)
And, we’ll lose more good referees after this year. Luis Medina Cantalejo got his last match with the UEFA Cup final, Konrad Plautz, Herbert Fandel and Iouri Baskakov will all retire this year.
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