The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in 1950, and the fifth time that it was held in South America.
Graham Poll is an English former football referee in the Premier League. With 26 years of experience, he was one of the most prominent referees in English football, often taking charge of the highest-profile games. His final domestic game in a career spanning 1,544 matches was the Championship play-off final on 28 May 2007 between Derby County and West Bromwich Albion.
Frank De Bleeckere is a Belgian former football referee. He had been a referee since 1984, and an international (FIFA) official since 1998. De Bleeckere refereed in his first World Cup finals in Germany, and had to pass a late fitness test following injury. He had been appointed by UEFA as one of twelve referees to officiate UEFA Euro 2008 matches, and was in charge of the semi-final between Spain and Russia.
Ramesh Ramdhan is a football (soccer) referee from Trinidad and Tobago, The first referee from the Caribbean to officiate in the WC Finals (Japan-Croatia) during the 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France.
Gilles Veissière is a football referee from France, best known for supervising two matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. He also led two matches at the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, and has refereed numerous UEFA Champions League matches. He was selected for the FIFA Europe vs. Rest of the World match to accompany the World Cup draw in Marseille in 1997.
Nikolai Vladislavovich Levnikov is a retired Russian football referee. He is known for having refereed one match in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
Alon Yefet is a former international football referee who was the first Israeli to officiate a UEFA Champions League match.
Alain Sars is a retired French football referee.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world and Muslim world, and the second held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.
The 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 18th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Denmark between 11 and 25 June 2011.
Nicola Rizzoli is an Italian former football referee who refereed in the Italian Serie A from 2002 to 2017 and was a FIFA-listed referee from 2007 to 2017. He refereed the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina on 13 July at the Estádio do Maracanã and the 2013 Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium. Rizzoli won seven consecutive AIC Serie A Referee of the Year Awards from 2011 to 2017. On 18 February 2017, Soccer 360 included Rizzoli on its list of the top 5 referees in the 21st century.
Alexandru Dan Tudor is a retired Romanian football referee. He refereed his first match in the Romanian First Division on 15 May 1999, when he officiated a match between Universitatea Craiova and Universitatea Cluj. He was a FIFA-listed referee from 2001 to 2016, and refereed his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match on 31 July 2002. He took charge of a UEFA Cup first round match between Celta de Vigo and Odense Boldklub two months later, but it was not until 4 November 2008 that he refereed his first Champions League group stage match, when he officiated a match between Barcelona and Basel. He refereed his last official match in the Romanian First Division on 14 December 2018, when he officiated a thrilling game between Concordia Chiajna and FC Politehnica Iași, 3-6. Nicknamed Brad Pitt thanks to his looks, Tudor holds the record for the most games officiated in Liga 1, with over 380 matches under his badge.
Pavel Královec is a Czech football referee. He has been a full international for FIFA since 2005.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group B was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia and Malta.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group C was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group D was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia and Andorra.
Mark William Geiger is an American sports administrator and former soccer referee. He is the senior director of match officials at the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), which oversees domestic referees in Major League Soccer (MLS). Geiger previously officiated in MLS and was on the FIFA International Referees List from 2008 to 2019. At the international level, Geiger refereed the 2012 Olympics, the 2013, 2015, and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cups, and the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups. At the 2014 World Cup, he became the first referee from the United States to officiate a knockout match at a World Cup tournament. Before becoming a full-time referee, Geiger was a high school mathematics teacher.
Daniele Orsato is an Italian football referee. Over his career, which spans three decades, Orsato has refereed a UEFA Champions League final and has received accolades from the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
Luca Banti is an Italian football referee. In 2009, he became a UEFA Category three referee and at the start of 2010 he was promoted to category two and later to category one.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group I was one of the nine UEFA groups for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The group consisted of six teams: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland, and Kosovo.
