WorldReferee: AFC Asian Cup Referees announced

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Worldreferee is run from Holland, but our reporters are from all over the place. The ones who work hardest for this site are: Maia (reports and research), Carlos, Niclas E and Ray (reports), EPV, Frank Kvas, Ederson P (research), Dave Eisenhower, Archie Rogers (research, moderator) and Jack Alzapua (web guy genius).

Mexican ref Marco Rodriguez carries (at least) two yellow cards so be warned.

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Surinam referee Enrico Wijngaarde is already in training for the 2014 World Cup.

According to the site nospang.com, Wijngaarde's boss has got a visit from football officials asking him to give the referee enough time to be able to do his training.

It turned out that the Bulgarian referee who took charge of the friendly between AZ and Werder Bremen in Turkey January 11, wasn't who he said he was.

It was the banned and suspended for life Bulgarian Lachezar Yonov who had used the name of Raycho Raychev, a referee from Sliven. His assistants, also already banned also had taken on false identities. Yonov was banned for match fixing and suspended for life because he had been officiating in South America in spite of that ban.
The real Raychev wasn't amused and threatens to sue Yonov.
Friendlies in Turkey with Bulgarian (fake) referees - Yonov also awarded a penalty to AZ and added 10 minutes stoppage time - not a good thing to be involved with. Someone in China must have made some money.
AZ coach Verbeek said the ref had been very bad, in fact Yonev had taken charge of another friendly with AZ two days later as well and again he awarded AZ a penalty for nothing. It all doesn't matter, said Verbeek, the matches don't count. (Except for the gambling syndicates)

contrary to what we said earlier Angolese top referee Helder Martins de Carvalho is not off the FIFA list. Helder told us there had been some confusion but he is still there.

The names of referees who will retire (internationally) at the end of this year and their successors are appearing. There are of course those who are 45, but they are not the only ones. If you hear about refs leaving the FIFA panel, please tell us.

OUT
; Gabriel Favale, Juan Pablo Pompei, Héctor Baldassi (Argentina); Vahan Minasyan, Arman Amarkhanyan (Armenia); Thomas Einwaller (Austria), Bernhard Brugger (Austria); Zakharaya Ali (Bahrain); Moh. Islam, Azad Rahman (Bangladesh); Valery Vialichka (Belarus);Frank de Bleeckere; Christof Dierick, Christof Virant (Belgium); Gerald Henry (Belize); Coffi Codjia (Benin); Pater Guerrero (Bolivia); Tebogo Ramocha (Botswana); Gutemburg Fonseca, Salvio Fagundes (Brazil); Anton Genov Angel Angelov (Bulgaria); Albert Sanon, Jean-Batiste Bassono, Serge Ilbodou (Burkina Faso); Athanase Niyongabo (Burundi); Jean de Dieu Baboule (Cameroon); Mauricio Navarro (Canada); Nolan Foster (Cayman Islands); Steve Taley (Central Afr Rep); Sylvestre Djerabe (Chad); Lei Zhang (China); Hector Parra; Albert Duarte; Oscar Ruiz (Colombia); Ibrahim Saindou (Comoros); Giles Kouendze (Congo B); Mbila Leya, Ikia Mvibudulu, Jean-Mari Kazubu, Musungayi Mpunga (Congo, DR); John Pareanga (Cook Islands); Francisco Venegas (Costa Rica); Alvaro de Avila (Curacao); Marios Stamatis, Stelios Trifonos (Cyprus); Michael Svendsen (Denmark); Moh Hassan Ourouke, Hassan Ali, Moh Ali Farah (Djibouti); Samual Haro (Ecuador); Zekarias Fega Girma, Alemayehu Esheto, Sherafa Dilicho (Ethiopia); Petteri Kari, Tero Nieminen (Finland); Babak Rafati; Peter Sippel (Germany); Dimitrios Kalopoulos; Dimitrios Kalopoulos, Vassilios Pamporidis (Greece); Sylvestre Cantussaan, Joao Soares da Gama (Guinea Bissau); Roland Persaud, Otis James, Mark Young (Guyana); Guldner Edouard (Haiti); Jose Gaspar Molina (Honduras); Zsolt Szabo (Hungary); Magnus Thorisson (Iceland); Arjunan Gowder (india); Jimmy Napitupulu (Indonesia); Sabah Abid; Kadhum Auda Lazim (Iraq); Meir Levi (Israel); Lewin Purser, Dave Peterkin (Jamaica); Mohamed Al Rshidat (Jordan); Stephen Muko, Davies Omweno (Kenya); Tha ho Hwang (Korea DPR); Dong Yu Lee (Korea Republic); Naser Al Enezi, Mahmoud Blooshi (Kuwait); Sergey Kravchenko (Kyrgyzstan); Andrejs Sipailo (Latvia); Talaat Najm (Lebanon); David Jane (Lesotho); Abby Toussaint, Luc Wilmes (Luxembourg); Kuan Long Won (Macau); Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia); Mohamed Bourge; Mohamed Ould Lemghambodj (Mauritania); Jaime Herrera (Mexico); Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands); Ibrahim Chaibou (Niger); Abd El Fatttah El Attar (Palestine); Augustus Constantin (Romania); Gabriele Rossi, Stefano Podeschi (San Marino); Alan Muir (Scotland); Jacques Andre (Seychelles); Edward Parkinson (Sierra Leona); Jerome Damon, Abdul Basit Ebrahim (South Africa); Antonio Rubinos Perez (Spain); Massimo Busacca, Jerome Laperriere (Switzerland); Muhsen Basma (Syria); Andriy Shandor (Ukraine); Jorge Larriona (Uruguay); Wilson Mpanisi (Zambia);

IN
German Delfino (Argentina); Adranik Arsenyan (Armenia); Markus Hameter, Alexander Harkam (Austria); Rami Alkaabi (Bahrain); Dzianis Shcharbakou (Belarus); Wim Smet, Jonathan Lardot, Alexandre Boucat (Belgium); Amir Castilla (Belize); Edgard Bada, Gustave Tohouegnon (Benin); Passang Tshering (Bhutan); Johnny Cuellar, Gery Vargaz, Jorge Mancilla (Bolivia); Omphile Phutego (Botswana); Francisco Nascimento (Brazil); Ivaylo Stoyanov, Nikola Popov (Bulgaria); Boukari Ouedraogo, Juste Zio, Luis Sanou, Innocent Saba, (Burkina Faso); Thierry Nkurunziza (Burundi); Nadeng Cosmas (Cameroon); Eleuthere Pinguimale (Central Afr Rep); Alhadi Mahamat (Chad); Qin Yao (China); Sebastian Restrepo; Luis Sanchez; Ramiro Suarez (Colombia); Messie Jessie Nkounkou (Congo B); Desire Yamba Mulamba, Claude Ntuntu Fuengi, Ignace Mupemba, Achille Madila (Congo DR); Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica); Christos Nikolaides, Vasilis Dimitiou (Cyprus); Bienvenu Sink (Cote d'Ivoire); Michael Tykgaard, Michael Johansen (Denmark); Djamal Aden Abdi, Farah Aden Ali (Djibouti); Junior Andujar, Juan Carlos Hidalgo (Dominican Rep); Roddy Zambrano (Ecuador); Fidel Paiz Mejia (El Salvador); Michael Oliver (England); Haileyesus Bazezew Belete (Ethiopia); Jari Jarvinen, Dennis Antamo (Finalnd); Marco Fritz; Felix Zwayer (Germany); Athanasios Giachos; Petros Kostantineas (Greece); Gilberto dos Santos (Guinea Bissau); Sherwin Johnson (Guyana); Allen Jacques (Haiti); Adam Nemeth (Hungary); Gunnar Jonsson (Iceland); Wathik Al Baag (Iraq); Robert Rogers (Ireland); Orel Greenfield, Eitan Shmulevitz (Israel); Dwight Royal (Jamaica); Mohammed Arafah (Jordan); , Anthony Ogwayo, Derrick Shitiabayi (Kenya); Ali Taleb (Kuwait); Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (Latvia); Matheola Makhobalo (Lesotho); Chris Reisch, Laurent Kopriwa (Luxemburg); Seth Jaovanona (Madagascar); Chris Kerr (New Zealand); Serdar Gözübüyük (Neth); Adam Lyczmanski (Poland); Radu Marian Petrescu (Romania); Vitaly Meshkov (Russia); Leonardo Guidi, Johnny Casanova (San Marino); Kevin Clancy, John Beaton (Scotland); Danilo Grubic (Serbia); Peter Kralovic (Slovakia); Mitja Zganec (Slovenia); Stephan Klossner, Adrien Jaccotett (Switzerland); Anatoliy Abdula (Ukraine)

CAF has released the list of officials who will be in charge of matches at AFCON 2012.

Referees: Khalid Abdel Rahman (SUD, 1968), Néant Alioum (CMR, 1982), Daniel Bennett (RSA, 1976), Mohamed Benouza (ALG, 1972), Koman Coulibaly (MLI, 1970), Badara Diatta (SEN, 1969), Noumandiez Doue (CIV, 1970), Bouchaib El Ahrach (MRC, 1972), Bakary Gassama (GAM, 1979), Gehad Grisha (EGY, 1976), Djamel Haimoudi (ALG, 1970), Nampiandraza Hamada (MAD, 1984), Slim Jedidi (TUN, 1970), Ali Lemghaifry (MAU, 1975), Eddy Maillet (SEY, 1967), Eric Otogo (GAB, 1976), Rajindraparsad Seechurn (MRI, 1970), Janny Sikazwe (ZAM, 1979)

and for those who are interested, the assistant referees: Redouane Achik (MRC, 1972), Jean-Claude Birumushahu (BDI, 1972), Balkrishna Bootun (MRI, 1973), Richard Bouende-Malonga (CGO, 1974), Djibril Camara (SEN, 1983), Moffat Champiti (MWI, 1967), Jason Damoo (SEY, 1975), Aboubacar Doumbouya (GUI, 1976), Peter Edibe (NGA, 1970), Abdelhak Etchiali (ALG, 1981), Beshir Hassani (TUN, 1969), Felicien Kabanda (RWA, 1971), Evarist Menkouande (CMR, 1974), Yanoussa Moussa (CMR, 1973), Angessom Ogbamariam (ERI, 1971), Aden Marwa Range (KEN, 1977), David Shaanika (NAM, 1980), Zakhele Siwela (RSA, 1982), Theophile Vinga (GAB, 1975), Songuifolo Yeo (CIV, 1970)

This year on the top of our top 100 is Uzbek ref Ravshan Irmatov. , who had an amazing year taking charge of AFC Cup, Club World Cup and AFC Champions League finals

In the second place is Colombian Wilmar Roldan , a young prospective ref who has grown in an amazing way.

As 3rd appears Wilson Seneme , the man from Brazil, who is the favorite to be the host ref in 2014

You can have a look at the full top 10 - and top 100 as well if you're up to it - by clicking this line.

We want to thank all our reporters for helping us with this project: Firstly to Jack, Dave and Archie for having these site, furthermore to Niclas E who has done an amazing job this year. We also want to thank The Eng whose AFC reports gave us a great idea of the talents we have in that part of the world. We also want to thank Ray and Padre for their reports and like them we want to thank our rest of reporters staff: Croref, adir, Nacho, Chefren -our new and excellent reporter-, and how to forget Wolfgang Sittmayer, EPV, Cagatay and fctav, we could continue without end writing all the names, but they are simply too many. A happy new year with the best wishes for all of you with the hope this site keeps growing up with your excellent work...

Your South America Worldreferee staff Maia and Carlos