The Ifab agenda for their meeting on March 3 has been published. The meeting will be held in Surrey, England, where the board will discuss various proposals to the Laws of the Game.

The main proposals to be discussed are the amendments of text in Law 3, Law 8, and Law 12.

In Law 3 – The player, Fifa has submitted a proposal to allow a fourth substitution in extra time.

The FIFA Task Force Football 2014, the Medical Committee and the Football Committee support the proposal in order to maintain the technical level until the 120th minute and to protect the health of the players (as a means of preventing injuries).

In Law 8 – The start and restart of play, the Football Association has suggested that the dropped ball part should be clarified when a dropped ball is kicked directly into a goal. They would like some additional text stating that a dropped ball kicked directly into an opponent’s goal should result in a goal kick, and into their own goal should result in a corner kick. This is similar to how the rule is for the indirect free kick.

The discussion of Law 12 will focus around the triple punishment for a player denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). The discussion has circled around the punishment of a player with sending off, penalty, and suspension in the following game.

The text submitted by Fifa adds two bullet points where the suggestion is that the a player committing DOGSO outside the penalty area and a player committing DOGSO without the possibility to play the ball should be sent off. If these two amendments are approved they will suggest that a player committing DOGSO inside the penalty area should be cautioned, not sent off as today’s text states.

As Fifa writes in the Ifab agenda:

The triple punishment (penalty kick + red card + player suspension) for a player who denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards his goal by an offence punishable by a penalty is widely considered to be too severe. A player would still receive a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity outside of the penalty area as well as for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball, by holding or an offence committed from behind inside his own penalty area when he has no opportunity to play the ball. A penalty kick and a yellow card would be enough sanction for other offences that deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity committed by a defending player inside his own penalty area.

Aside from discussing amendments to the Laws, the board will also discuss the AAR experiment, the vanish spray experiment, and goal-line technology.

The complete document can be found here. Any amendments made at the March meeting will be implemented on July 1 unless they find it necessary to fast track it for this summer’s European CHampionship.

Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez has been suspended by the Mexican Football Federation for a period of time equalling five match days following his performance in the final game of the 2011 Mexican Primera Division. The return game between Tigres and Santos ended 3 – 1 to Tigres, a game where Rodriguez handed out seven yellow cards and three straight reds.

The general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation, Decio de Maria, was quoted saying that Rodriguez failed to fulfill the role of a match official when he presented two yellow cards simultaneously (see the incident here).

Rodriguez was a referee at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, refereeing a total of four games. Only 39 years old, he is still eligible for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and a hot contender to be Mexico’s refereeing candidate for the tournament.

(via @ArbitroInteBlog)

Vikto Kassai has been voted the World’s best referee for 2011 by IFFHS. He is followed by Howard Webb and Ravshan Irmatov.

Kassai received a total of 138 points, compared to 103 and 97 for Webb and Irmatov. The Hungarian was in charge of last season’s Champions League final, and refereed a semi-final in the last World Cup.

The top 10:

Viktor Kassai, Hungary
Howard Webb, England
Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbekistan
Wolfgang Stark, Germany
Frank De Bleeckere, Belgium
Massimo Busacca, Switzerland
Carlos Velasco Carballo, Spain
Nicola Rizzoli, Italy
Jorge Larrionda, Uruguay
Salvio Fagundes, Brazil

Rune Pedersen i NFF har publisert regelnytt og retningslinjer for sesongen 2012. Det er lite nytt fra fjorårets retningslinjer, men nedenfor beskriver jeg hva som er endret fra 2011.

Fra sesongen 2012 vil det kunne oppholde seg syv innbyttere og syv ledere i teknisk sone.

I tillegg vil det være tillatt med fysisk trener sammen med spillere i oppvarming. Det er ikke tillatt med noen form utstyr.

NB! Dette gjelder kun Tippeligaen, Toppserien og Adeccoligaen for 2012.

Bruken av buff/hals, en sak som ble avklart av Ifab i fjor, er nå inkludert i skrivet. Fokus ved usportslig opptreden vil i år, som i fjor, være holding i arm eller trøye.

Under punktet for vurdering av straffbar bruk av hånd har det blitt inkludert en setning om forsvarsspillere i mur:

Ved oppstilling av mur utenfor eller innenfor straffesparkfeltet, anbefales dommerne å signalisere til forsvarsspillere at det vil vurderes som straffbar hands om armene løftes opp mot eller over hodet.

Offsidevurderingen har også fått en ekstra setning:

Ved vurdering av å forstyrre motspiller, skal det tas hensyn til om forsvarsspilleren klarering, pasning etc. blir mislykket grunnet den offside plasserte spillers bevegelse, posisjon, som da vil kunne anses å forstyrre.

Hele dokumentet er publisert på NFFs sider.

NFF publiserte før jul regionsdommerne for 2012. Disse dommerne dømmer hovedsaklig i 2. divisjon, og vi kommer nok til å se et antall av disse dommerne på JET til sommeren.

Region sør-Norge
Erik Sannerholt
Espen Hovland
Espen Larsen
Ole-Martin Loeshagen
Per Viggo Bratli
Raymond Nyberg
Richard Isaksen
Rohit Saggi
Tim Nicolai Fjellvang

Region midt-Norge
Christina Westrum Pedersen
Espen Tømmervold
Even Myrheim
Karl Fredrik Røsok
Kristian Aune
Mads Følstad Skarsem
Mathias Smehus Kringstad
Pål Jakobsen
Rikhard Haugen Lyng
Sigurd Smehus Kringstad
Thomas Solum Lystad
Trond-Erik Julseth

Region vest-Norge
Andre Knudsen Arnholt
Anders Bjerk Hansen
Arild Tengesdal
Cosmin Dima
Jon Ophuus
Jørn Voll
Kristoffer Hagenes
Steinar Hauge
Tomas Ø. Tjelle
Ørjan Vikene

Region øst-Norge
Audun Fremstad
Anders Hauglund
Bård Lindahl
Christian Moen
Espen Kallerud
Espen Stav Hansen
Knut Ivar Strømstad
Kristian Randen
Kristoffer Leirdal
Odd Arne Kalløkkebakken
Ola Skjørli Oterhals
Ole-Alexander B. Valen
Per Erik Haugen
Richard Johansen
Stig Unhammer
Thomas Lilleby
Tommy Frydenlund
Tore Olsen Hagelund
Torkjell Jonsson Trædal

Region nord-Norge
Kay- Erling Ludvigsen
Marius Jespersen
Ole Martin Loe
Stig Are Sørensen

Adidas announced in December that they have extended their deal with Uefa till 2018. This includes providing the match ball for Uefa Champions League, Uefa Europa League and Uefa Women’s Champions League.

The match officials in these tournaments will also sport adidas equipment, and the Champions League kit will be using a starball design, according to their press release.

NFF publisert i forrige uke årets dommerveiledere. Veilederne hadde sist helg samling for å gjennomgå hva som forventes av veiledere sesongen 2012. Av nye veiledere finner vi en av fjorårets tippeligadommere Roy Helge Olsen. Jonny Ditlefsen, med lang fartstid som dommer i Tippeligaen og Adecco, har også kommet med på veilederlisten.

Veiledere
Øyvind Alapnes
Ola Bjørnsen
Håkon Bondal
Terje Singsaas
Kjell Alseth
Per A. Larsgård
Espen Eriksen
Ivar A. Eriksen
Roy Helge Olsen
Thorbjørn Aass
Tore Aaland
Einar Halle
Arnor Dingen
Tore Hollung
Arild Thorp
Sven Kjelbrott
Jon E. Skjervold
Morten Engebretsen
Egil Oseth
Johnny Westby
Geir C. Grindheim
Svein G. Hermansen
Tore K. Nybø
Rolf Mauritzon
Ole Sørdahl
Kåre Erlandsen
Jørn Thomas Smedsrud
Steinar Roland
Arild Sundet
Jonny Ditlefsen
Halvard Johansen
Svein Haugom
Morten Høgberg
Bente O. Skogvang
Jane Sæves
Nina Hedlund
Lisbeth H. Lode

NFF
Rune Pedersen
Jan Petter Randen

Tippeliga-assistenten Jan Erik Engan fra Sogndal har blitt Fifa-dommer. Engan har vært fast i Tippeligaen siden 2010, og var i september med Tom Harald Hagen til privatlandskamp i England.

De andre Fifa-dommerne er hoveddommerne Espen Berntsen, Tommy Skjerven, Dag Vidar Hafsås, Ken Henry Johnsen, Svein Oddvar Moen, og Tom Harald Hagen. Assistentdommere er Frank Andås, Kim Tomas Haglund, Geir Åge Holen, Steinar Holvik, Magnus Lundberh, Sven Erik Midthjell, Dag Roger Nebben, Leif Erik Opland, Svein Inge Wiken, og nå Jan Erik Engan.

Odd Jarle Larsen har gått ut av listen over assistentdommere.

The new FIFA referees’ committee has been elected. This is the committee responsible for appointing referees to competitions organised by FIFA.

Chairman
Angel Maria Villar Llona, Spain

Deputy Chairman 
Michel D’Hooghe, Belgium
Zhang Jilong, China

Members competition
Peter Mikkelsen, Denmark
Carlos Batres, Guatemala
Lambert Maltock, Vanuatu
Tarek Bouchamaoui, Tunisia
Fatou Gaye, Senegal
Toru Kamikawa, Japan
Ingrid Jonsson, Sweden
Jorge Larrionda, Uruguay
Celestin Ntagungira, Rwanda
Jassim Mandi Abdul-Rahman, Bahrain
Alfredo Trentalange, Italy
Terence Babwah, Trinidad and Tobago

Members development
Belaid Lacarne, Algeria
Carlos Alarcon, Paraguay
Ted Howard, USA
Katriina Elovirta, Finland
Lee Harmon, Cook Islands
Jacqueline Leleu, Australia
Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh, Malaysia
Michael Riley, England
Michal Listkiewicz, Poland
Oscar Ruiz, Colombia
Hector Vergara, Canada
James Sekajugo, Uganda

Some of these names may be familiar to those who has been following international referees the last decade. Carlos Batres, Jorge Larrionda, Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh, Celestin Ntagungira, and Hector Vergara all participated in the last World Cup in South Africa.

Michael Riley is the manager of PGMOL, running the referees for the English Premier League. Toru Kamikawa refereed the third place match in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Peter Mikkelsen refereed in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup.

Ingrid Jonsson was one of the first women allowed to referee in a FIFA tournament, then as a linesman/lineswoman in 1991. Michał Listkiewicz refereed in the 1990 World Cup and subsequently became the president of the Polish FA.

(via @allaboutrefs)

The referees for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2012 has been announced by CAF. The tournament will take place in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, starting on the January 21st.

Referees
Eddy Maillet, Seychelles
Rajindraparsad Seechurn, Mauritius
Khalid Abdel Rahman, Sudan
Daniel Frazer Bennett, South Africa
Mohamed Benouza, Algerie
Badara Diatta, Senegal
Koman Coulibaly, Mali
Bakary Papa Gassama, Gambia
Neant Alioum, Cameroon
Bouchaib El Ahrach, Morocco
Noumandiez Doue, Ivory Coast
Aly Lemghaifry, Mauritania
Slim Jedidi, Tunisia
Djamel Haimoudi, Algerie
Eric Otogo-Castane, Gabon
Janny Sikazwe, Zambia
Hamada Nampiandraza, Madagascar
Ghead Grisha, Egypt