Viktor Kassai has been announced as the referee for the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United on Saturday in London. He will be assisted by Gabor Erös and György Ring, with Mihaly Fabian and Tamás Bognar as additional assistant referees. Istvan Vad will be the fourth official while Róbert Kispál will be the reserve assistant referee.
This is only the second time a Hungarian referee has taken charge of the Champions League final, the last one being Sandor Puhl in 1997. Kassai will be the youngest referee to referee a Champions League final when he trots the field on Saturday, only 35 years old.
He went to the World Cup in 2010 and impressed with his refereeing, culminating in a semi-final appointment. While this is only Kassai’s 13th match in the Champions League, he has been an international referee since 2003. He refereed Manchester United in the group stage this season, making Saturday’s match his fourth match including Manchester United in the Champions League. He has never refereed Barcelona in the Champions League.
Kassai has some final experience having refereed the 2008 Olympic final between Nigeria and Argentina in Beijing. The same year he worked as a fourth official at the Euro 2008.
This is the first Champions League final with additional assistant referees.
28/05/2011
Barcelona – Manchester United
Referee: Viktor Kassai, Hungary
Assistant referees: Gabor Erös, György Ring
Additional assistant referees: Mihaly Fabian, Tamás Bognar
Fourth official: Istvan Vad
Reserve assistant referee: Róbert Kispál
Uefa delegate: Geir Thorsteinsson, Iceland
Uefa referee observer: Marc Batta, France
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Great referee for this match. I’m happy to see Kassai in this final, he deserves it totally.
Agree 100%,Kassai deserves this prestigous Appointment
I predicted EL final for him. On the orher hand, this is far better. He had a steady improvement trend.
This could also mean that we have one referee for EURO 2012.
Some of you blamed him for letting the play to flow, but you have to understand that this is modern refereeing. Both FIFA and UEFA appreciate that. I am very happy!!!
If you remember WC 2010 semi-final Germany-Spain, Kassai was referee. The first foul was whistled in 22 minute, I remember so because commentator on our television noticed that, and he gave just 1 yellow card. The football is really football when Kassai do the match.
I’m sorry, there was no yellow cards on match Germany-Spain. :)
I am satisfied with the nomination. Kassai has enough quality to handle this match, although he needs to do a lot of homework and a good preparation, just to avoid a weak performance like Carballo did in the EL final.
About the Germany-Spain in WC2010 that wasn’t brilliant. One thing is to make the game flow, other is the blindness he showed in some situations in that match. In this final he will be always under pressure but he can handle that properly with a good knowledge of both teams and a bit of luck…good luck Viktor :D
I do not share your enthusiasm. That has the following reasons:
1st: His Champions-League season was ok, but not extra-ordinary good. He did still o.k. in the Inter Bayern match, but not good either.
2nd: He is too young to my mind, how should he top that in the next 10 years? Perhaps by WC and EURO finals, ok.
3rd: Of course letting the game flow is good in most matches and it may be said to be the modern style of refereeing. But in the Germany-Spain semifinal this modern style stole us (Germany) an obvious penalty. Moreover there are some situations which must have a booking as consequence.
I hope that my feeling will not be right, I was not happy with Velasco before and after the match and hopefully, I am not happy with Kassai’s appointment only before the match.
I really do not understand why you keep saying that Kassai is too young? The age should not be a criterion; otherwise Larsen should have been automatically appointed last year and De Bleeckere this year, but that never happened… Kassai and Irmatov were among the best referees at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they are both young and they both did a World Cup semi-final, which confirmed that they are at the required level.
Of course the age may not play a role. I often ask however: How should Kassai top this match? And of course, there is still an EURO final some day and a WC final.
Pls do not forget Stark and Nishimura when remembering the best referees in RSA
In my opinion, the best referee at a given moment should be appointed for the best match at that moment. I consider that Kassai already reached that level and fully deserves a World Cup semi-final and a Champions League final. Why do you need to think how he will top a specific match? Webb did both the WC final and the UCL final at 39 and he is still refereeing.
I said that Kassai and Irmatov were among the best referees, which implies others, and I agree with you regarding Nishimura and Stark.
just in order to recall the past:
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
These matches impressed me most:
3rd: Bayern-Inter // unpredictable match
2nd: Real-Barca // unbelievable atmosphere
1st: Inter-S04 // unbelievable result
These referees’ perfomances impressed me most:
3rd: Olegário Benquenca in ManU-Chelsea
2nd: Felix Brych in Real-Tottenham
1st: Nicola Rizzoli in Arsenal-Barca
These matches disappointed me most:
3rd: Chelsea-ManU // BORING
2nd: S04-ManU // match on one goal, pity that Schalke could not resist
1st: el clásico 2nd leg // boring match
These referees’ perfomances disappointed me most:
3rd: Frank de Bleeckere in el clásico: no spunk to give cards
2nd: Damir Skomina in S04-Inter: a disaster
1st: Howard Webb in Shakhtar-Roma: he forgot everything to be a good referee
What do you think?
Don’t like the appointment. Kassai is not a big believer in cards. Doesn’t use them to help the game flow.
That Germany Spain game was one of the most overrated refereeing performances in some time. Spain had like 80% possession in that game and Germany made no attempt to win the ball back. It was such an easy game to referee. No credit.
I remember watching him do the Czech Republic vs. Spain Euro 2012 Qualifier and at times he refused to give cards. Took the Howard Webb approach. There was a Czech player on a yellow and he hacked down Iniesta from behind in the penalty area and he gave no yellow for the foul. He gave the PK, but it was unbelievable that he showed no card.
My guess is he will be lenient in the game. He will allow Vidic, Ferdinand, Rafael, Pique, and Busquets at least one cynical, obvious tactical foul without showing a card.
Rizzolli should have gotten the Final based on performance this season. His performance in the Barca Arsenal game was brilliant. His card on Alex Song in the 6th minute was brilliant and made the game so much better.
Excellent!
Kassai is my favorite referee.
Good in fault detection. Distinguishes casual match of fault.
Does anyone know why Vamos, who went with Kassai to the WC and worked UCL matches with him through 2010, was replaced by Ring as an AR? And, is it true that this is only Ring’s second UCL match ever?
Sorry, big mistake by me. It’s his 7th. The change was made in November. He’s done 3 matches with Kassai as the center and 3 with Vad as the center. Still doesn’t explain why Vamos was dumped, though.
On the basis of the performances this season, there have been better referees such as Rizzoli or Benquerença.
No doubt he is a very good referee, but if I were Collina I’d appoint Kassai for the Europa League final and Benquerença for the CL final.
And about cards management, Kassai has his own policy, wich seems to be liked by UEFA RC with Collina, Batta, Dallas…IMO, a match without cards is not better refereed than a match with 6 or 7. A lot of people here writes “there were no cards in that game”. Well, you should say “the referee didn’t show cards in that game” because for sure there were some YC offence. Trying to keep cards in the pocket is not always a good sign.
Remember, player is the responsible of being shown a card, not the referee, so don’t use the number of yellow cards to talk about good or bad referees. To criticise them better talk about the ability or not of reading the game and use the suitable strategy for each game.
Absolutely, a lenient way of refereeing differs from “not-want-to-show-cards”, and Kassai always moves at a fine line. I totally agree with you. I would like to see Kassai in a Copa Libertadores match, oh dear, how would he struggle. In this league you will not manage to give only 2 or 3 yellows.
ALTHOUGH: His card policy during this season was not that small.
1x 1 yellow, 1x 5, 1x 6 and 1x 7. 4 3/4 yellows per match, that is not less.
@ Daniel: do you really mean “fault detection” or foul detection?
@ Paul: Well, Vamos is born 1968, it may be obvious that we have with Ring an amazing talent who is yet 30. But I agree with you, it is a bit odd. It is by the way Ring’s 5th CL match ever. One with Vad and the rest with Kassai.
“foul”
:)
Niclas,
Did you remember Busacca or Undiano in the play-off for the World Cup 2010 between Costa Rica and Uruguay? Both failed to read the game properly and tried to do a “european performance” wich resulted in two bad games.
Be lenient when you can, so did Velasco in CL semifinal, and was totally good. But sure Kassai will handle the occasion well.
Absolutely. But I do not agree with you that Velasco’s style was good this final. However, we should be happy that he did no match decisive mistake, that is the most important thing in a final.
Naturally, one has to pay attention to the kind of match. I do not expect such a fight like in el clásico. The match will focus on football.
The countdown is going…
Well done Viktor.
But not faultless, the 2nd goal was offside…no-one at worldreferee-com uttered that…except me :D
The goal was in off-side, but you can´t balme the assitent, It would be ridicuolus. It was very close, nobody can see it in the field. The assistante made what FIFA ask; If you are not sure let the game play, nobody can be sure of it in the game.
Hmm, I wonder whether this decision was really that hard to make or not. There were no opposed moves or directions of the involved players, the ManU player stood in offside about 2 seconds. Eros’ view was free, so why should I not blame Kassai as everyone does in every other match?
I don´t blame him because it was dificult, I allways think when I gave a grade two thinks: Can he do it better? Can an other one do it better? Was it his foult because his style or his bad manegment? It´s the fould of the referee comission? Can I do it better with his experience? That´s why I make some thinks before I see a match and analyse it: Think in previous performances of the referee and the teams, think what style could be better, think wich kind of match will it be for example. To analyse a match it´s not so easy if you want to do it objective, there are different ways and all the referee comissions have a different way of do it, I allways use the one of Colombia and that´s why we can all have different opinios and give a 7 in a match and an other one can give a 8,5 in the same match…
By the way, I cannot understand why worldreferees member rate him with a 8.8 or higher. It was good, but not outstanding.
Martin, what do you think of the perfomance?
It thought he had a good game. He let it flow in his usual manner, but it never got out of hand. As many mention he was a bit inconsistent with his bookings, or he let Valencia off the hook too many times. But it’s one thing to see it on the screen, another being on the field. All over I thought he did great, with the exception of the Alves – Valencia booking.
and of course the offside decision, naturally, it made the match pretty interesting and exciting. And it was very close, but that is sometimes the problem if only the main referee is at a top level. With Ring we have a new of those names like Salver, Sharp, Jiménez and Lindberg
Apart from that there were some unreasonable decisions: why may Valencia foul Messi 3 times, two times from behind without being booked, Alves is booked for a tactical foul immediately?!
If you have this style (being lenient), you may have it. But you have to sustain it during the match. And I learned again as I am a youth referee myself, waiting 20 seconds before making the goal kick (Valdes) is worse than a foul from behind…
Well done to Kaissai and his team especially ring as he is a good freind of mine. I am a fifa assistant referee from N.Ireland and i worked with Gyorgi ring in Croatia at an U.17 mini tournament and its hard to beleive in just three years from then he was doing the champions league final.
Yes indeed, Ring’s career path is unbelievable. Perhaps we might see you in Euro League or something like that Black’s or Courtney’s side soon :)
I think that Vad’s team has great chances in Colombia to get the final.
If it were “Olegarible” Benquerença the referee, would have been:
40 fouls
10 yellow cards
2 red cards
Kassai is referee Football
Others don´t know what is football, combine the rules of football with basketball and handball … weak referees …
Yes, therefore his style is ok. But as I wrote before, if he has that style which makes the match better and more fluently, he must sustain this style. If Valencia may make 3 fouls from behind, Alves must get a chance as well not to be booked.
{ 3 trackbacks }