The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988. Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history. It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3,587,538 and an average of 68,991 per game, marks that stood unsurpassed as of 2022 despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the 1998 World Cup.
The 1972 Olympic football tournament, held in Munich, Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Nürnberg, Passau, and Regensburg, was played as part of the 1972 Summer Olympics. The tournament features 16 men's national teams from five continental confederations. The 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four and each group plays a round-robin tournament. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams advanced to the second group stage, where the second-placed teams in each group advanced to the bronze medal match while the first-placed teams advanced to the gold medal match held at Olympic Stadium on 10 September 1972.
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.
Antonio "Tony" Evangelista is a Canadian FIFA referee and important builder to Canadian soccer.
Martin Atkinson is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.
Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov is a Russian former international football referee and player. The son of two Olympic champions of 1956, Valentin Ivanov and Lidiya Ivanova, he lives in Moscow where he works as a physical education teacher.
Horacio Marcelo Elizondo is an Argentine former international football referee best known for his officiation throughout the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Having achieved all his goals in refereeing, Elizondo retired after the December 2006 match between Boca Juniors and Lanús, 2 years before the compulsory retirement age of 45.
Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafesa is a retired FIFA football referee from Uruguay who has officiated at international matches since 1998. He officiated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he took charge of four matches, including a semifinal between Portugal and France. He is known as a strict referee who shows a high number of cards.
John Keith Taylor was an English football referee. Later described by the Football League as "perhaps the finest English referee of all time", Taylor was famous for officiating in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final during which he awarded two penalties in the first 30 minutes. The first of these penalty kicks, awarded after just a minute of play, was the first penalty kick awarded in a World Cup final.
Abraham Klein is an Israeli former international football referee. He refereed international matches between 1965 and 1982, including the 1968 and 1976 Olympics and important matches at the Mexico 1970, Argentina 1978 and Spain 1982 World Cup Finals. He was also a linesman for the 1982 World Cup Final in Spain.
Christopher Francis Bambridge is an Australian retired football referee. Born in Kettering, England he came to Australia from Britain in 1974.
Benjamin Jon Williams, better known as Ben Williams, is a retired Australian football referee.
Wolfgang Stark is a German former football referee who is based in Ergolding. He refereed for DJK Altdorf of the Bavarian Football Association.
Jafar Namdar was an Iranian football referee.
Robert Matthewson was an English footballer and FIFA referee. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Matthewson had a spell playing for the Byker Youth Club's football team before he was signed by Bolton Wanderers. After six appearances for Bolton in six seasons, including three appearances in the Football League, Matthewson was allowed to leave the club on a free transfer by manager Bill Ridding. He then joined Lincoln City but never played a league game for them. He then entered National Service. Upon his return an engineering colleague persuaded him to take up refereeing back in Bolton in 1958–1959, progressing through local leagues to the Lancashire Combination and Northern Premier League.
This article summarises the results and overall performances of Australia at the FIFA World Cup.
Cüneyt Çakır is a former Turkish football referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and Barcelona. He was FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the UEFA Elite since 2010 until his retirement.
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.
Prudencio “Pete” Garcia was the first American referee to participate in a FIFA World Cup. Garcia, who served as a linesman in four games at the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, is a member of the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. A photo of Garcia holding an American flag as a child is the poster for the exhibition called “Invisible Emigrants: Spaniards in the United States, 1868-1945”, at the Conde Duque in Madrid, Spain, running January 23 - April 12, 2020 Garcia was profiled in the Sunday magazine Cronica El Mundo in an article by reporter Dario Prieto titled "Prudencio, el Primer Arbitro Yanqui Era Asturiano," published in Madrid on January 12, 2020.
Pavel Nikolaevich Kazakov was a Soviet football referee, who was the country's referee of the year on 15 occasions. He officiated the second leg of the 1973 UEFA Cup Final, as well as at the 1972 Summer Olympics and 1974 FIFA World Cup.
