UEFA have published the list of twelve referees and four fourth officials going to the European Championship in the summer 2012. The tournament will be held in Ukraine and Poland, and will be the first tournament where the additional assistant referees will be used.
Referees
Cüneyt Çakιr, Turkey
Jonas Eriksson, Sweden
Viktor Kassai, Hungary
Bjorn Kuipers, Netherlands
Stephane Lannoy, France
Pedro Proenca, Portugal
Nicola Rizzoli, Italy
Damir Skomina, Slovenia
Wolfgang Stark, Germany
Craig Thomson, Scotland
Carlos Velasco Carballo, Spain
Howard Webb, EnglandFourth officials
Marcin Borski, Poland
Tom Harald Hagen, Norway
Pavel Kralovec, Czech Republic
Viktor Shvetsov, Ukraine
The full referee teams will be published in January 2012.
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Craig Thomson by far the weakest one in the field!
I saw Turkish ref during one of the National team matches in 2010… It’s a tragedy i must say…
For the final:
1-webb
2-rizzoli
3-cakir
Webb for the final after the WC 2010 final? Not a chance.
As many are saying, the main points of contention seems to be Webb for Atkinson and Stark for Brych.
For what it’s worth, they happen to be 4 of my favourite officials (the other being Skomina), so I can understand the predicament the respective authorities had with this. As many have said above, I think the decision has gone with experience, and the last 18 months of form. Not only did Webb and Stark give the best performances (along with Kassai in the CL final) in that time (Webb, pick either of his finals – Stark, the thunderous el Clasico), but Atkinson and Brych seem to lack that vital consistency of performance.
Indeed, I feel their refereeing style ‘by the book’ – the very thing that has got them this far too it has to be said – is one of the key reasons they have not been selected (the Rodwell and Vidic reds for MA and FB respectively spring immediately to mind).
In short, Atkinson is my personal favourite from England (I suspected he’d be one of worlds best 7 yrs ago!), but it is clear that he has some way to go to reach the consistency of Webb – who on his day can match some of the best referees of our time. And lets not forget that he is still only 40 years old. Lots to offer in 2012.
Other talking points? Great news for Clattenburg on the elite list, much deserved – and is the the form referee in Europe at the moment.
Pleased for my compatriots Koukoulakis and Kakos.
When do they name the assistant referees?
In their initial press release they said they would release the full list in the end of January. I inquired about this last week, and they said they had no set date for releasing this information.
After what I’ve read on some other blogs, some of the referees did not pass the physical test in Turkey. Maybe it has something to do with this? All speculation of course.
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