Shamsul Maidin (born 16 April 1966) is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 first became a referee in 1996 and retired in 2007. AFC Director of Referees since 2016 Shamsul Maidin has contributed to the development of Asian Refereeing for over two decades as a match official, instructor and manager. Having represented Asia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, Shamsul Maidin was twice selected AFC Official of the Year in the mentioned consecutive years. He has also won the

S.League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...

Referee of the Year award four times, in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Specialised in Human Resources studies, Shamsul is a former

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of As ...

(FAS) referee retired in 2007. Recognised for his experience as referee instructor and referee assessor at FIFA and AFC level, Shamsul was appointed as part of the instructors' team of the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Other highlights of his career include the 2004, 2000 and 1996 AFC Asian Cup editions, as well as the 2003 and 2001 FIFA World Youth Championships. The Singaporean also became the only non-African match official at the 2006 African Cup of Nations and guided United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAEFA) referees as Technical Director from 2013 to 2015. He is currently leading the Referees Department of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Shamsul is the first Singaporean to be chosen as AFC's director of referees. Since January 2017, Shamsul is a member of the FIFA Referees Committee. Additionally, Shamsul is a member of the IFAB Technical Advisory Panel since 2016.

Career

International tournaments

Shamsul has officiated in the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

s, as well as the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. U20 Brazil claimed their fourth title. The 2003 championship was the 14th contested. The tournament was originally planned to be ...

. He was also the only non-African referee at the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt won ...

Confederations Cup

Shamsul had also officiated in the

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

match in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, in which Argentina won 4–2, during the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners ...

FIFA World Cup

2006 FIFA World Cup

In 2006, Shamsul was selected by

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 ...

as one of the official referees for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

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 ...

. It was only the second time a Singaporean had taken part in a

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 ...

after George Suppiah in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, also held in Germany (then

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

). Shamsul took charge of the group stage game between

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, brandishing the first red card of the tournament to Trinidad and Tobago's

Avery John Emery Avery John CM (born 18 June 1975) is a Trinidad and Tobago former professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Youth and College John was born in Point Fortin. He attended Vessigny ntillesGovernment Secondary School and ...

. He also officiated the group stage game between

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 ...

and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, sending off Angola's

André Macanga André Venceslau Valentim Macanga, better known as André Macanga (born 14 May 1978), is a former Angolan football midfielder and a current coach. Career Macanga was born in Luanda, Angola. After playing in Portugal for many years, Macanga also ...

, becoming the first referee of the tournament who sends off two players. Shamsul's appointment for the Mexico-Angola match saw him becoming the first Singaporean to referee more than one match at a World Cup Finals. Shamsul also officiated the final Group A game between

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, becoming the first referee of the competition to perform in three matches. Finally, he was appointed as

fourth official In association football, an assistant referee (previously known as a linesman or lineswoman) is an official empowered with assisting the referee in enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the La ...

for the Round of 16 match between

and

2010 FIFA World Cup

In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Shamsul was appointed as a technical instructor by FIFA.

References

External links

FIFA World Cup 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maidin, Shamsul 1966 births Living people FIFA World Cup referees 2006 FIFA World Cup referees Singaporean football referees Singaporean people of Malay descent AFC Asian Cup referees