Karl-Josef Assenmacher (born 30 May 1947) is a former

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

Career

Assenmacher, born in

Hürth Hürth is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne and is about 6 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kott ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, has officiated a total of 153 games 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 99 games in 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 ...

. From 1983 to 1993, he was a

FIFA referee This is a list of current FIFA international referees. Years in brackets indicate when the referee was added to the FIFA International Referees List. Afghanistan Men's Referees * Halim Shirzad (2019) Assistant Referees * Nangyal ...

and refereed 18 European Cup games, including the

1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match contested between Parma of Italy and Royal Antwerp of Belgium. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England on 12 May 1993. It was the final match of the 1992–93 European ...

between

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on 12 May 1993. His career was marked by his refereeing of the World Cup qualifying game, held on 13 October 1993 at

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, between

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

and

. The game ended with Holland winning 2-0. The result meant that England would not qualify for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

and caused English coach Graham Taylor to resign his post. Subsequently, Taylor, as well as most English media, criticized severely some of the referee's decisions in that game. Late in the second half, with the game at 0–0, David Platt was fouled by

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

as he raced in clear on goal. The German referee failed to apply the rule of sending the Dutch player off for a " professional foul," and showed him only a yellow card. The Dutch players charged down the free kick, "encroaching the kicker" and the shot was blocked, while the referee waved play to carry on. Minutes later, Ronald Koeman took a similar free kick outside England's penalty area. His first shot was blocked, and one England player was booked for encroaching. The free kick was ordered retaken and Koeman scored at the second attempt.Edworthy (1997) p.154

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...

scored Holland's 2nd goal ostensibly "using his arm to control the ball." However, two minutes before half-time, England were said to have been fortunate because a

Frank Rijkaard Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Rijkaard played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan and represented the Netherlands national team side ...

goal was ruled out for offside, even though replays showed the goal was legitimate. A week after the game, on 20 October 1993,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

issued a statement to the effect that Assenmacher who was scheduled to referee the

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

between

and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

on 17 November, would be replaced by another German referee, Hellmut Krug."Fifa blows whistle on Assenmacher"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 20 October 1993 The statement read, "After analysing the performance of ssenmacher the Fifa Referees' CommitteeThe FIFA Referees' Committee

website has decided to replace him with Krug." Assenmacher would not officiate an international game again.

Retirement

Assenmacher is an expert

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player. He has won the 2003 and 2008 Table Tennis World Master Series.Biography
at the World Referee website

References

;General references *Edworthy, Niall. ''England: The Official F.A History'', Virgin Publishers, 1997, * Glanville, Brian. ''England Managers: The Toughest Job in Football'', Headline, 320 pages, 31 May 2007,
Karl-Josef Assenmacher data
at FootballDatabase.eu
Database on German referees

External links

Profile
at worldfootball.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Assenmacher, Karl-Josef German football referees 1947 births Living people 20th-century German people

Career

Retirement

See also

References

External links