Officials for the 2010 FIFA World Cup are selected from a pool of 30 trios of referees and assistant referees announced by the

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 ...

governing body,

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 ...

, on 5 February 2010. The final cut was selected from a group of 38 referees revealed in October 2008, themselves whittled down from an initial group of 54 selected for the Refereeing Assistance Programme in 2007. From the quarter-finals onwards, the pool of referees was reduced to 19.

Selection process

In 2007, the FIFA Executive Committee set up the Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) to help prepare the referees in contention to officiate at the 2010 World Cup; 54 were selected to make up the initial group. Over the following months, they were assessed based on their performances at FIFA tournaments, RAP seminars and in their domestic leagues. In September 2008, 53 of the original 54 referees attended an "Elite Referee" seminar in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where their technical, physical and mental abilities were analysed. The results were presented to the FIFA Referees' Committee, who preselected 38 trios of referees and their assistants on 22 October. From this group of 38, ten trios – representing all six confederations – were selected to referee at the

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Joh ...

, hosted by South Africa as preparation for the World Cup 12 months later. This assignment was viewed by FIFA as part of the referees' assessment, to ensure that they are prepared for the technical and physical demands of the World Cup in South Africa. The final 30 trios of officials were announced at a meeting of the FIFA Referees Committee in Zürich on 5 February 2010. The trios were assessed using the same criteria as for the original cut. Following their selection, each official underwent FIFA's pre-competition medical assessment (PCMA) at the Schulthess Clinic in Zürich between 25 February and 6 March. However, on 27 May 2010, two referees –

Carlos Amarilla Carlos Arecio Amarilla Demarqui (born 26 October 1970) is a football referee from Paraguay. Amarilla has been a referee since 1997 and his first international game was between Uruguay and Ecuador. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup he took charge of ...

and

Mohamed Benouza Mohamed Abderrezak Benouza ( ar, محمد بنوزة) (born 26 September 1972 in Oran) is an Algerian football referee who currently resides in Oran. He has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2001. Career He was selected as a ...

– and their assistants were removed from the final list, following the assistant referees' failure in the standard fitness tests, the same tests as those held in Zurich. Uruguayan referee Martín Vázquez and his assistant referees were called up as a replacement trio. For the quarter-finals onwards, FIFA trimmed their list of match officials, allowing 10 teams of referees to return home. The teams sent home were those of

Roberto Rosetti Roberto Rosetti (born 18 September 1967) is an Italian former football referee. He is fluent in Italian (native), English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received hi ...

(

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 ...

Jorge Larrionda Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafesa (born 9 March 1968) is a retired FIFA football referee from Uruguay who has officiated at international matches since 1998. He officiated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he took charge of four matches, including ...

(

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 ...

Stéphane Lannoy Stéphane Laurent Lannoy (born 18 September 1969 in Boulogne-sur-Mer) is a French football referee. Lannoy played football at an early age before moving into officiating matches. He has been a FIFA international referee since 2006. He lives in Sa ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Massimo Busacca Massimo, also Massimino, and Massimine () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name: * Massimo Agostinelli (Max Agos) (born 1987), Swiss based Italian American artist, entrepreneur and activist *Massimo Ag ...

(

Martin Hansson Martin Hansson (born 6 April 1971) is a Swedish former football referee. He was a full international referee for FIFA between 2001 and 2013. Hansson works as a firefighter outside refereeing and is fluent in Swedish, English and German. His h ...

(

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 ...

Koman Coulibaly Koman Coulibaly (born 4 July 1970) is a Malian football referee. He has been a full international referee for FIFA since 1999 and officiated his first international match on 19 April 2000, between Mali and Burkina Faso. Coulibaly is one of Mal ...

(

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (born 17 November 1966) is a Malaysian retired football referee who currently resides in Parit Buntar. He has been refereeing in the Super League Malaysia since 1995. He has been a full international referee for FIFA sin ...

(

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

), Peter O'Leary (

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

), Martín Vázquez (

) and

Joel Aguilar Joel Antonio Aguilar Chicas (born July 2, 1975) is a Salvadoran retired football referee. He has been a FIFA listed international referee since 2002. Aguilar was selected as a referee for the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, where he re ...

(

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Officials

References

External links

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Referees
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2010 Fifa World Cup Officials

Officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

FIFA World Cup-related lists