Ovidiu Alin Hațegan (; born 14 July 1980) is a Romanian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 title ...

who officiates primarily in the

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

and for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

as a FIFA international referee. He is ranked as a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

elite category referee.

Football career

Born in Arad, Hațegan became a

referee in 2008. He went to referee at both the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns. In 2013,

president

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

ordered an internal investigation to ascertain why Hațegan did not apply the protocol for dealing with allegedly racist chants from the crowd during a match at the

Arena Khimki Arena Khimki () is a football stadium in Khimki, Russia. Located 300 metres north of the Moscow Ring Road, MKAD highway, it lies on the Moscow Oblast side of the border with Moscow. It is the home stadium of FC Khimki. FC Torpedo Moscow uses it ...

between

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English language, English: ''Central Sports Club of the Army''), commonly referred to as CSKA Moscow or ''CSK ...

. CSKA Moscow was later charged with "racist behavior" for the incident, but Hațegan was absolved of blame. In August 2016, Hațegan refereed in the men's football tournament at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. He refereed two matches during this tournament, including the semifinal between Brazil and Honduras. On 9 November 2017, he was in charge of the first leg of the 2018 World Cup qualification play-off between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. During this match, he awarded a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

to Switzerland after the ball struck the arm of Northern Irish defender

Corry Evans Corry John Evans (born 30 July 1990) is a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder or Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for club Oldham Athletic A.F.C., Oldham Athletic. A Nor ...

, which was tucked closely against his body. Switzerland scored the penalty kick and would go on to defeat Northern Ireland 1–0 on aggregate, earning qualification to the World Cup. Hațegan later admitted that he was wrong to award the penalty kick, and that this mistake may have played a part in his exclusion from the roster of match officials for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. On 19 November 2018, after being informed at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

fixture between

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

of the death of his mother, and even though he could have legally been replaced, Hațegan chose to continue officiating until the end of the match, which ended 2–2 in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

and qualified the visiting team to the final four. Visibly distraught, he was consoled after the full whistle by Dutch

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (; born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation and ...

. Hațegan has refereed at two

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

s, officiating two group stage games each in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

tournaments. In March 2022, Hațegan suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. Therefore, he was absent from the field for about a year and a half, but officiating matches as VAR both domestically and abroad, with appreciated interventions. Rated with high chances to participate, he missed also the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Hațegan returned to the field in June 2023, the first official refereed match being after a break of 443 days. The first match in Romanian First League was in July 2023, 494 days away from the last match before the accident. Finally, Hațegan refereed and the first match in European competitions on October 26, 2023 - 588 days since his last European appearance.

Personal life

Hațegan majored in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the Victor Babeș University in

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

. He later taught

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

in English at the Vasile Goldiș Western University in his hometown. Hațegan married his wife Nicoleta in 2009, with the couple parenting two children.

Refereeing record

UEFA Euro

Summer Olympics

References

External links

Romanian Football Federation profile

World Referee profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hategan, Ovidiu 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Arad, Romania Romanian football referees UEFA Champions League referees UEFA Europa League referees UEFA Euro 2016 referees Football referees at the 2016 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2020 referees