(10) Switzerland-Netherlands

Mikael W

(10) Switzerland-Netherlands

Highlights

Report

Should in the 20th minute Clarance Seedorf been given a second YC?

UEFA thought so, and accordingly failed the referee of the game, Atanas Uzunov from Bulgaria. Seedorf had been already booked for an inarguable tactical foul five minutes earlier, and was hoiked by Hiddink shortly after the close escape, in a substitution seemingly serving as an admission of perceived guilt. Uzunov was unfortunate in my view, because the challenge was neither clearly SPA (a touch by Turkyillmaz deliberately took him wide to win the freekick) or reckless (Seedorf tried to make a standing challenge and then semi-pulled out). Optics and 'vibes' matter though and the feeling of a 'swallowed' call -- indeed UEFA said this was a refusal to take a brave and unpopular decision -- probably lingered.

Perhaps I am just lost in the modern way of things, but personally I would support the ref's call there; of course, it would have been better to show the cards though. Otherwise: Uzunov, best man at Stoichkov's wedding no less (true story!), brought an interesting style of refereeing to Euro'96: that of a strict, law-enforcer. For all the cards shown in the championship, nobody had managed to cultivate that image (think Larrionda) until now. I wouldn't begrudge the Bulgarian his place in the championship, but overall he was probably one of the weaker officials selected to the European showpiece, with a technical accuracy closer to 'adequate' than wholly satisfying. Still, in my view he did a decent job taking everything into account.

Atanas Uzunov's performance in this game was rejected by UEFA.

Matchsheet

Atanas Uzunov - 6 Ivan Lekov - 7 Jordan Jordanov - 7 Stefan Ormandžiev (assessor: casarin)	Switzerland 0-2* Netherlands* Thurs 13June 730pm, Birmingham Group Stage
Sui Jeanneret (32') - SPA (Challenge) Chapuisat (39') - SPA (Holding) Türkyılmaz (62') - Striking Grassi (72') - Striking	Ned Seedorf (15') - SPA (Holding)

Comments

Information

After the UEFA Advanced Course for Top Referees taking place at Seville in February 1996 (40 candidates), twenty-four referees were selected to take charge of the matches at 'Euro 96':

Marc Batta (fra)

Ahmet Çakar (tur)

Piero Ceccarini (ita)

Manuel Díaz Vega (esp)

David Elleray (eng)

Mario van der Ende (ned)

Anders Frisk (swe)

Dermot Gallagher (eng)

Guy Goethals (bel)

Gerd Grabher (aut)

Bernd Heynemann (ger)

Václav Krondl (cze)

Hellmut Krug (ger)

Nikolaj Levnikov (rus)

Antonio López Nieto (esp)

Peter Mikkelsen (den)

Leslie Mottram (sco)

Serge Muhmenthaler (sui)

Kim Milton Nielsen (den)

Pierluigi Pairetto (ita)

Sándor Puhl (hun)

Leif Sundell (swe)

Atanas Uzunov (bul)

Vadzim Žuk (blr)

Two stand-by officials were also nominated: László Vágner (hun) and Ryszard Wójcik (pol).

In late March 1996, after the playing of the quarterfinal matches in the Champions League, Cup Winners and UEFA Cup, the UEFA Referees Committee made the specific referee appointments to the twenty-four group matches from the selected pool of referees.

The referees committee was comprised of ten members: Lars-Åke Björck (swe), Paolo Casarin (ita), Johannes Malka (ger), Jozef Marko (svk), Bert Millichip (eng), Alexis Ponnet (bel), Kenneth Ridden (eng), Emilio Soriano Aladrén (esp), Leonardus van der Kroft (ned), Michel Vautrot (fra).

Millichip, president of the (English) Football Association, was a football politician and did not conduct technical refereeing analysis. The leader of the committee from the refereeing perspective was the German, Johannes Malka.

This was the first Euro to feature sixteen teams. As in all the eight-team Euros, there would be no 'camp' for the referees in England, instead the referees would make a four-day trip for their games and then fly home again (the same as in European Cups duty).

All referees worked in set quartets from the same country - while the reserve referee was selected by the UEFA Referees Committee, the two linesmen were nominated by the national associations.

No new guidelines were given to the referees prior to the Euro: all instruction came from the Seville meeting in February. UEFA endorsed the same style of refereeing as FIFA at the previous World Cup in the United States in 1994.

Finally, the referees committee met after the playing of the group stage, on the 19th of June, to determine the referees for the quarterfinals, semifinal and final matches. Thus, seven referees handled two matches at the tournament and of the seventeen who remained on one assignment, four had been rejected by UEFA.