Famous Soccer Referees

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in terms of worldwide fame.  It has bred several international superstar players and it is home to one of the most popular sports tournaments in the world: the FIFA World Cup.  However, soccer is not only known for famous players and famous tournaments.  It is known for famous referees too.  Read on for a list of some of the world’s most famous referees and some of their major accomplishments.

Ken Aston was a soccer referee from 1936 to 1963.  In 1940, during the war, he has to stop the game he was refereeing because of too much bombings that went on.  In his autobiography, he mentions that he was the only soccer referee in world who used a helmet when working soccer matches.   His most famous, and most important, accomplishments though came in his role as Chairman of the FIFA Referee Commission.  As chairman, he was responsible for the design of the modern uniform of soccer referees.  He was the one who included the fourth arbiter into the game and he was the one who change the flag colors of the side referees to make them easier to see.  Best of all, Ken Aston was the one who was responsible for the inclusion of red and yellow cards into the game of soccer.

Pierluigi Collina is “Kojak”.  He is easily recognized as the soccer referee with the bald head.  He is regarded as one of the most famous referees of soccer.  His relationship with soccer started as a player when he played for a local team in his native Italy.  It wasn’t long though before he realized his real talent lay in being a soccer referee.  Collina first shot to stardom was when he was chosen to referee the championship match between Argentina and Nigeria in the 1996 Olympics. Other important matches that he refereed include the 1999 UEFA Champions League final and the 2004 FIFA World Cup which was a match between Germany and Brazil.  His fame as a soccer referee even reached over to video games when he was included in popular soccer video games such as FIFA 2005 and Pro Evolution Soccer 3.

Arnaldo Coelho is the first non-European referee to ever officiate a FIFA World Cup Championship Match.  This Brazilian referee was able to accomplish this feat by being the lead official in the 1982 World Cup Final between West Germany and Italy.  His career as a professional referee started in 1965 and by 1968, he was already able to get himself included in the distinguished list of FIFA referees.  Throughout his career, he was selected to officiate in 7 World Cup matches including back to back selections in 1978 and 1982.  At the height of his fame, Arnaldo David Cézar Coelho was said to be the World’s highest paid soccer referee.

Said Belqola is a Moroccan referee.  He is the first African ever to referee in a FIFA World Cup Finals Match. This happened when he was chosen to be a referee in the 1998 World Cup Finals match between France and Brazil.  That same year, he also refereed in the African Nation’s Cup.  Later, the French Football Federation offered financial help to Belgola in exchange for the ball that was used in the 1998 World Cup Final.  He agreed to this proposal and donated all of the money to charities in his native country.  Said Belgola died in 1998.