Ravshan Sayfiddinovich Irmatov ( uz, Ravshan Sayfiddinovich Ermatov, Равшан Сайфиддинович Эрматов; born August 9, 1977) is an Uzbek professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

. He officiated in the

Uzbek League Uzbekistan Super League ( uz, O'zbekiston Superligasi), also called Coca-Cola Uzbekistan Super League due to sponsorship reasons ( uz, Coca-Cola O'zbekiston Superligasi / Coca-Cola Ўзбекистон Суперлигаси), is the top division ...

from 2000-2019 and internationally from 2003-2019. Irmatov holds the record for officiating the most

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

matches with 11. In June 2019, Ravshan Irmatov was appointed as the first Vice-President of the

Uzbekistan Football Association The Uzbekistan Football Association ( uz, Oʻzbekiston Futbol Federatsiyasi) is the governing body of football in Uzbekistan, controlling the Uzbekistan national football team, Uzbekistan national team. History Uzbekistan Football Federation was ...

. The first Vice-President of this organization is the de facto leader of Uzbekistan’s football. He began reforms in Uzbekistani football after long criticism and corruption scandals in the country's football. During the inauguration, he said, “If we all come together and work for the same goal, we will overcome any difficulties”.

Biography and career

Irmatov's father was also a referee, working in

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

competitions. He has been a full international referee for

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 ...

since 2003. He is considered one of the elite referees in the world. He was selected as a referee for the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

in Canada, where he refereed the group stage match between

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, as well as the match between

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and Congo. He was named The Best Referee in Asia in four consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014), and he was selected to officiate the final match of both the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2011 FIFA Club World Cup The 2011 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2011 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament that was played from 8 to 18 December 2011. It was the eighth edition of the FIFA Club Worl ...

. Irmatov was selected as a referee for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and was in charge of the opening match between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

on June 11. Irmatov equalled the record for number of matches in charge in a single FIFA World Cup when he took charge of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

semi-final. He took charge of the World Cup 2010 Group C Fixture, where

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 ...

met

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in Cape Town – thus becoming the youngest official to take charge of an opening World Cup match since 1934 and the youngest referee of

. Irmatov also officiated at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

and was selected to referee the final between Australia and Japan. Irmatov was selected as a referee at the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

. In the

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...

match between

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

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 ...

on 22 June, he blew his whistle to award Italy a penalty and was seen pointing at the penalty spot. A second later, as play continued,

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strengt ...

scored with a low shot, with Irmatov instead pointing to the halfway line to signal a goal. Irmatov admitted to his mistake after the game saying: “While I was whistling for a penalty, out of the corner of my eye I saw the goal and I thought advantage should be played and gave the goal.” On 27 December 2015 at

Globe Soccer Awards The Globe Soccer Awards aka Dubai d'Or are football awards organised by the European Club Association (ECA) in conjunction with the European Association of Player's Agents (EFAA) and delivered by the organisation Globe Soccer. The award ceremony ...

ceremony in Dubai Ravshan Irmatov was named as ''Best Referee of the Year'' in 2015. On 31 December 2015 president of Uzbekistan

Islam Karimov Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov ( uz, Islom Abdugʻaniyevich Karimov / Ислом Абдуғаниевич Каримов, italics=no; russian: link=no, Ислам Абдуганиевич Каримов; 30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was t ...

signed a decree “On awarding Ravshan Irmatov with the order '' Buyuk Hizmatlari Uchun''” (For outstanding services). On 4 March 2016 Irmatov was named ''Referee of the Year 2015 in Uzbekistan'' by Football Federation for 10th time after survey results among sport journalists.

Honours

Individual

* Uzbekistan Referee of the Year (10): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 * AFC Referee of the Year (5): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 * Globe Soccer Award for the Best Referee of the Year: 2015

Order

* El-Yurt Hurmati (Honour of people and Motherland) in 2014 * Buyuk Hizmatlari Uchun (For outstanding services) in 2015

Matches

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

** vs ** vs ** vs (round of 16) ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (final) *

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

** vs ** vs * 2017 FIFA Club World Cup **

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club ( ar, نادي الوداد الرياضي, ) commonly referred to as Wydad AC and known as Wydad, or simply as WAC, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional Association footba ...

(second round) *

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

**Video assistant referee *

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 4.5 slots (four direct slots and one in ...

** vs (second round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (fourth round) *

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

** vs ** vs ** vs ** vs (semifinal) *

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

** vs ** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) *

** vs *

2013 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup was the 5th edition of this regional competition, the football championship of East Asia. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2012. Mongolia were suspended from the EAFF and could not compete in any EAFF co ...

** vs (final tournament) *

2012 AFF Suzuki Cup The 2012 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup, was the 9th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of Southeast Asia. It was co-hosted for group stage by Malaysia and Thailand a ...

** vs (final leg 2nd) *

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) section of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification saw 43 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths in the final tournament in Brazil. As in recent tournaments the AFC had four direct qualifiers for the finals tourn ...

** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) *

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

** vs ** vs ** vs (bronze medal match) *

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to most of the commo ...

(match for fifth place) ** Santos vs

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

(final) *

** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (final) *

** vs (Opening match) ** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (semi-finals) * 2008 FIFA Club World Cup **

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

(quarter-finals) **

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

(final)

References

External links

FIFA Profile

Rate Ravshan in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irmatov, Ravshan 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Tashkent Uzbekistani football referees 2010 FIFA World Cup referees Olympic football referees Football referees at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2014 FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees CONCACAF Champions League referees AFC Asian Cup referees