by Martin Rødvand on May 21, 2010
Herbert Fandel has been appointed the head of the referees committee in Germany. He succeeds former top referee Volker Roth who has been in charge of the committee the last 15 years.
The former Fifa referee Fandel retired last year after 11 years on the international list, with the 2006 Uefa Cup final and 2007 Champions League final on his list of achievements. He was also one of the twelve referees selected for Euro 2008, where he refereed three matches.
Volker Roth, who now steps down from the referee committee, was in 1986 appointed to the World Cup in Mexico. He is currently a member of the Uefa referees committee, a committee he has chaired in previous years.
by Martin Rødvand on June 8, 2009
Herbert Fandel, the 45-year-old German referee, has announced his retirement from football. The Elite group referee who refereed the UEFA Cup final in 2006 and the UEFA Champions League final in 2007 last refereed an international match in December 2008, with AS Roma and Bordeaux in the Champions League. He was later injured and missed the complete first half of 2009.
Fandel, as most referees, has been involved in various controversies, most notably when he abandoned the EURO 2008 qualifier between Denmark and Sweden in June 2007 due to an attack from a Danish fan in the end of the second half. The incident happened after one of Fandel’s assistants spotted a punch inside Denmark’s penalty box and rightly awarded a penalty for Sweden.
Fandel and his team was later selected for the EURO 2008 final tournament and refereed three matches including the quarter-final between Spain and Italy. The team was denied more matches with Germany proceeding through to the final of the tournament. He got to referee in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005 where he got to take charge of Greece – Japan in the group stage. However, Fandel and his team was denied the opportunity to referee in World Cup 2006 in Germany by fellow countryman Markus Merk.
The 45-year-old had his international debut in 1998 and he’s been a respected and trusted referee throughout his international career.
Fandel is the latest addition to retiring top referees, with Lubos Michel, Luis Medina Cantalejo, Konrad Plautz and Mike Riley all retired or due to retire this season.
