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

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.

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

As the new year has set on us, it is always the departure of international referees which has reached the mandatory retirement age of 45. This year we say goodbye to Belgian referee Frank de Bleeckere, who not only retired internationally but also domestically.

Born in 1966 he started his refereeing career as an 18 year old, and quickly progressed. He became an international referee in 1998, and he has had finals in both of FIFA’s youth tournaments (U-17 in 2005, U-20 in 2009). He was selected as a fourth official for EURO 2004, and as a referee for EURO 2008. He also participated in World Cup 2006 in Germany, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

He has been a regular in the UEFA Champions League, refereeing everything except the final since his debut in 2003. The total number of matches refereed in the Champions League stopped at 47, most of all referees currently in the Elite category. In 2005 and 2009 he refereed the Belgian cup final.

Another referee to retire is Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda. He would be eligible for two more years of refereeing, but elected to call an end to his career to join FIFA’s referees committee. He was regarded as a top official, and his selection for both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups shows exactly that.

A FIFA referee since 1998, he has been present at a number of international tournaments, and was a favourite for one of the finishing matches in the 2010 tournament in South Africa. A rather unfortunate situation in the round of 16 match between England and Germany where his assistant referee missed a goal for England put a stop to his World Cup dreams in Africa.

Although the spot on FIFA’s referees committee is currently a nomination, it is expected that Larrionda will be selected as one of the three from CONMEBOL.

Uefa has updated its referee categories for the spring of 2012. The spring update includes all the new Fifa referees as well as the usual shifts between categories.

Elite category
Martin Atkinson, England
Mark Clattenburg, England, Promoted from ED
Howard Webb, England
Alberto Undiano Mallenco, Spain
Carlos Velasco Carballo, Spain
Stéphane Lannoy, France
Felix Brych, Germany
Florian Meyer, Germany
Wolfgang Stark, Germany
Viktor Kassai, Hungary
Nicola Rizzoli, Italy
Gianluca Rocchi, Italy
Paolo Tagliavento, Italy, Promoted from ED
Kevin Blom, Netherlands
Bjorn Kuipers, Netherlands
Svein Oddvar Moen, Norway
Olegario Benquerenca, Portugal
Pedro Proenca, Portugal
Craig Thomson, Scotland
Damir Skomina, Slovenia
Jonas Eriksson, Sweden
Cüneyt Cakir, Turkey

Elite development
Robert Schörgenhofer, Austria
Marijo Strahonja, Croatia, Promoted from First
Pavel Kralovec, Czech Republic
Peter Rasmussen, Denmark, Promoted from First
David Fernandez Borbalan, Spain, Promoted from First
Tony Chapron, France
Manuel Gräfe, Germany
Alan Kelly, Ireland
Daniele Orsato, Italy, Promoted from First
Aleksandar Stavrev, Macedonia, Promoted from First
Bas Nijhuis, Netherlands, Promoted from First
Tom Harald Hagen, Norway, Promoted from First
Marcin Borski, Poland, Promoted from First
William Collum, Scotland
Milorad Mažić, Serbia, Promoted from First
Markus Strömbergsson, Sweden, Promoted from First
Firat Aydinus, Turkey, Promoted from First

The full list can be downloaded here. Women’s list here.

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, England

Fourth 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.

Ravshan Irmatov will referee the FIFA Club World Cup final between Santos and Barcelona later on today in Yokohama. He will be assisted by fellow countryman  Abdokhamidullo Rasulov and Kyrgyzstani referee Bakhadyr Kochkarov.  Kochkarov also assisted in the FIFA World Cup last year, a tournament where Irmatov refereed an impressive number of five matches in total.

Last year’s final referee, Yuichi Nishimura from Japan, will work as the fourth official in this final game of the tournament.

18/12/2011
Final
Santos – Barcelona
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbekistan
Assistant referees: Abdokhamidullo Rasulov, Uzbekistan; Bakhadyr Kochkarov, Kyrgyzstan
Fourth official: Yuichi Nishimura, Japan
Fifth official: Toru Sagara, Japan