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 titles depending on the sport, including umpire, judge, arbiter (chess), commissaire, or Technical Official. Referees may be assisted by umpires, linesmen, timekeepers, or touch judges.
In the sport of association football, the referee is the person responsible for enforcing the Laws of the Game (LOTG) during a match. He or she is the final decision-making authority on all facts connected with play, and is the only official on the pitch with the authority to start and stop play and impose disciplinary action against players during a match. At most levels of play the referee is assisted by two assistant referees, who are empowered to advise the referee in certain situations such as the ball leaving play or infringements of the Laws of the Game occurring out of the view of the referee; however, the assistant referees' decisions are not binding and the referee has authority to overrule an assistant referee. At higher levels of play the referee may also be assisted by a fourth official who supervises the teams' technical areas and assists the referee with administrative tasks, and, at the very highest levels, additional assistant referees and/or video assistant referees.
Joseph Nicholas Patrick Hamilton Jr., better known by his ring name Nick Patrick, is a retired American professional wrestling referee. He is a former referee for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment. He has also served as head referee for former WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling until that company's closing, and is former head referee for Florida Championship Wrestling.
Pierluigi Collina is an Italian former football referee. He was named FIFA's "Best Referee of the Year" six consecutive times and is widely considered to be the greatest football referee of all time. Collina is still involved in football, as an unpaid consultant to the Italian Football Referees Association (AIA), as the Head of Referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since 2010, as a member of the UEFA Referees Committee, and as Chairman of the FIFA referees committee.
Charles Shane Robinson is an American professional wrestling senior referee and former professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE on the SmackDown brand.
Mark Clattenburg is an English professional football referee.
Howard Melton Webb, MBE is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.
Andre Marriner is an English professional football referee based in Sheldon, West Midlands. He is a member of the Birmingham County Football Association.
Martin Atkinson is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.
In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rules and the person charged with rendering decisions. In reality, the referee is, like the wrestlers, a participant in executing a match in accordance with its script including its pre-determined outcome, and is responsible for controlling the flow of the match and for relaying information or instructions from backstage officials to the wrestlers. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and must render decisions in accordance with the promotion's kayfabe rules.
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by UEFA. It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016. Spain were the two-time defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 tournaments, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team, France, in the final played at the Stade de France.
Alberto Undiano Mallenco is a retired Spanish football referee. He was a full international referee for FIFA from 2004 to 2019. Undiano is also a part-time sociologist.
Viktor Kassai is a Hungarian football official and a former referee. He is the head of refereeing department of the Russian Football Union. He participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and refereed the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final. He has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2003. He retired as a referee on 30 December 2019.
Anthony Taylor is an English professional football referee from Wythenshawe, Manchester. In 2010, he was promoted to the list of Select Group Referees who officiate primarily in the Premier League, and in 2013 became a listed referee for FIFA allowing him to referee European and international matches. In 2015, he officiated the Football League Cup final at Wembley Stadium when Chelsea defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0. Taylor returned to Wembley later that year to officiate the Community Shield as Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0. He refereed the 2017 and 2020 FA Cup finals, both between Chelsea and Arsenal; Arsenal won on both occasions 2–1. Upon the selection, he became the first man to referee a second FA Cup final since Arthur Kingscott in 1901.
Damir Skomina is a Slovenian UEFA Elite category football referee.
Felix Brych is a German football referee. He referees for SV Am Hart München of the Bavarian Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA elite category referee. He is considered one of the highest-ranked European referees of his generation.
Michael Oliver is an English professional football referee from Ashington, Northumberland. His county FA is the Northumberland Football Association. He belongs to the Select Group of Referees in England and officiates primarily in the Premier League. He received his FIFA badge in 2012, allowing him to officiate in major international matches. Oliver was appointed to take charge of the final of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Oliver was promoted to the UEFA Elite Group of Referees in 2018.
Cüneyt Çakır is a Turkish football referee. He has been FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the UEFA Elite since 2010.
Milorad Mažić is a Serbian international association football referee. He became a FIFA referee in 2009. Beside working in the Serbian football league system, Mažić officiated numerous matches in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League, as well as the 2016 UEFA Super Cup. He refereed matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was selected as a referee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was awarded a Silver Medal for Merits of the Republic of Serbia. He was selected the best Serbian referee nine times in a row.
Danny Desmond Makkelie is a Dutch professional football referee. Besides refereeing he works as a police inspector in Rotterdam and as a referee development coordinator for the Royal Dutch Football Association. He has been a FIFA listed referee since 2011 and since then he took charge of the final of the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship as a UEFA Elite referee. On 18 August 2020, UEFA named 37-years old Makkelie as the referee for the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final between Sevilla and Inter Milan. Previous he was an additional assistant referee in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final. He also refereed the semi-final, between Brasil's Palmeiras and UANL from Mexico, in the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.