Willy Delajod (born 25 September 1992) is a French football referee who officiates in Ligue 1. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

second category referee.

Refereeing career

Delajod began refereeing at the age of 13. He officiated his first match in Ligue 2 during the 2015–16 season, in a fixture between

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

and Red Star on 29 January 2016. In doing so, he became the youngest referee to officiate a Ligue 2 match at the age of 23. In 2017, he was selected by the French Football Federation and

to join the UEFA Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE) program, intended to prepare younger referees for the international level. Three years later, he was promoted to officiate in Ligue 1, starting in the 2018–19 season. He officiated his first match in the league on 11 August 2018 between

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

and Rennes, again setting a record as the youngest referee in league history at the age of 25. In 2020, Delajod was added to the

FIFA International Referees List The FIFA International Referees List is an annual publication of the global list of FIFA international referees in the football-variants controlled by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) – association football (outdoor ...

. He officiated his first UEFA club competition match on 17 September 2020, a qualifying match in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League between

Teuta Teuta ( Illyrian: *''Teutana'', 'mistress of the people, queen'; grc, Τεύτα; lat, Teuta) was the queen regent of the Ardiaei tribe in Illyria, who reigned approximately from 231 BC to 228/227 BC. Following the death of her spouse Agr ...

of Albania and Granada of Spain. He refereed his first UEFA international on 13 October 2020 in the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 footballtournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia in the 2021 UEFA European Und ...

competition between

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 ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. In 2021, Delajod was also added as a video match official on the FIFA list. On 8 June 2021, he officiated his first senior international match, a friendly between

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and Lithuania. In 2021, Delajod was appointed as the video assistant referee for the 2020 Trophée des Champions held in January between

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, as well as the 2021 Coupe de France Final in May between

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

and Paris Saint-Germain. In January 2022, he was selected as a VAR official for the

2021 FIFA Club World Cup The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament be ...

in the United Arab Emirates. He was also selected as the fourth official for the

2022 Coupe de France Final The 2022 Coupe de France Final was a football match between Nice and Nantes to decide the winner of the 2021–22 Coupe de France, the 105th season of the Coupe de France. Originally scheduled to take place on 8 May at the Stade de France in Saint ...

between

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

and Nantes. On 11 May 2022, UEFA named Delajod as an assistant VAR official for the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final between

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

of England and Real Madrid of Spain, officiated by his compatriot

Clément Turpin Clément Turpin (; born 16 May 1982) is a French football referee. He has been a FIFA listed referee since 2010, and an UEFA Elite group referee since 2012. Career Turpin became a FIFA referee in 2010. He has served as a referee in the 2014 an ...

. Delajod has also officiated domestic matches outside of France. This includes in the

2020–21 Super League Greece The 2020–21 Super League Greece was the 85th season of the Super League Greece, the top Greek professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1959. Olympiacos were the defending champions. Teams Fourteen teams w ...

between

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

and PAOK, as well as in the

2021–22 Primeira Liga The 2021–22 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs, and the first season under the current Liga ...

between Paços de Ferreira and

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

Personal life

Delajod is a native of Cornier,

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

, and works as a

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

References

External links

* *
Willy Delajod
at EU-Football.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Delajod, Willy 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie French football referees