The scandal that erupted at the World Cup after the match between Holland and Portugal made Izvestia pay close attention not only to Russian Valentin Ivanov, who was judging this game, but also to his foreign colleagues.
Unfortunately, there are no such colorful characters on the mundial as the famous Italian Pierluigi Collina, from one glance of which the players were pulled into the string. The arbitrator, nicknamed Fantomas, has retired and can enjoy family vacations in his own villa worth 2 million euros. Not in the current judiciary and large fathers like Peter Prendergast from Jamaica. A week before the start of the World Cup, this father of six children was injured and dropped out of the main pool. Of the "survivors" and allowed to work in the championship, we selected five.
The most strict. The record of Valentin Ivanov - 16 yellow cards and 4 red ones - is unlikely to be broken in the coming matches if the FIFA referee committee does not entrust the Russian to serve the new meeting. In “peaceful” life, Ivanov, a candidate of pedagogical sciences, teaches at the Peoples' Friendship University.
The most erudite. Swiss Massimo Buzacca knows five languages, and in his free time from football he loves skiing. His Belgian colleague Frank De Blacker speaks four languages, which helps him in the daily work of a PR manager.
Most unloved. The German referee Marcus Merck, who has been working as a judge since 1988, is trained in only two foreign languages - English and French, but his main profession is “thieves” - a dentist. Football players who have lost their teeth in the battles of the World Cup do not have to go far. And if you ask well, Merck will insert prostheses at a discount. By the way, there are fans in Russia who would like to “count the teeth” of Marcus himself. Four years ago, at the 2002 World Cup, he did not award a penalty for the demolition of Igor Semshov in the match between the national teams of Russia and Japan.
The most compassionate. The main profession of the Italian Roberto Rosseti is a nurse. He works in a hospital and takes care of seriously ill patients. There was an episode in Rosseti's career when, during the 2004 Roman derby, one of the fans sowed panic in the stands with a false message about the death of a fan during clashes with the police. Due to outrages, the game had to be stopped. Several tiffosi ended up in Roberto’s hospital.
The most enthusiastic. Frenchman Eric Pula in everyday life works as a programmer and is engaged in philately. According to Eric's own admission, he has a large collection of postage stamps, the replenishment of which is facilitated by judicial practice.
Of the other hobbies of the referees of the current championship, one can distinguish: travel and sports (all), music and reading (almost all), business (some) and composing poems (Argentinean Horacio Elisondo). And only for Shamsul Maidin from Singapore, football is the main hobby, and refereeing is the only job.
Boris TITOV