Babak Rafati ( fa, بابک رفعتی; born 28 May 1970) is an Iranian-German former football referee. As of February 2010, he has officiated more than 150 matches in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. As of November 2011, he has officiated 84 top-flight German league games.

Suicide attempt

Rafati was scheduled to referee a Bundesliga match on 19 November 2011 between 1. FC Köln and 1. FSV Mainz 05, but never arrived, leading to the match's abandonment after a replacement could not be found. He was later found in his hotel room, having attempted suicide, and was rushed into

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

. He confirmed that he was suffering from depression, and that would like to return to refereeing after he finished undergoing therapy. Incidentally, his debut officiating a Bundesliga game was a match between Köln and Mainz 05 on 6 August 2005.

References

External links

* * * * 1970 births Living people German people of Iranian descent German football referees Iranian football referees UEFA Europa League referees {{Iran-footy-bio-stub