2006 FIFA World Cup controversies
Encyclopedia
The 2006 FIFA World Cup
generated various controversies, including onfield disputes, critiques of official decisions, and team salary issues. Most centered around specific refereeing decisions, which led many of the world's media to claim that the referees were spoiling the World Cup. Numerous World Cup records were also set by controversial calls, including Graham Poll's three-card error and Valentin Ivanov's record number of cards in a single match.
FIFA's "Fair Play" agreement also came under intense scrutiny during the tournament, particularly during the second-round match between Portugal and Netherlands.
mistakenly issue three yellow cards to Croatian Josip Šimunić
before sending him off. Šimunić was shown a yellow card by Poll in the 61st minute for a foul on Australian Harry Kewell. In the 90th minute, Poll held up a yellow card in front of Šimunić for a foul, but did not follow it with a red card, as is required upon a second yellow card. In the 93rd minute, after Poll had blown the final whistle, Šimunić approached Poll angrily and gave him a push. Poll thus issued Šimunić with a 3rd yellow card and also showed him the red card.
Questions were raised as to why Poll's assistants Phil Sharp
and Glenn Turner
, and fourth official Kevin Stott
, had also failed to realise the error. Poll later denied any blame should be placed upon the other officials saying, "I was the referee, it was my error and the buck stops with me". Poll reported that the officials had felt "disbelief" upon hearing of the error in the dressing room after the game. He and the other officials consequently reviewed the DVD of the game, and Poll realised that his "dream was over".
Football Federation Australia
chief executive John O'Neill
later said that "Australia could have had grounds for a very strong appeal should Croatia have won the match". Poll also explained the reason for his mistake by saying that "he incorrectly noted down the name of the Australia number three Craig Moore when booking Šimunić for the second time and failed to realise his error" (Šimunić is Australian-born, hence speaks English with an Australian accent, probably causing the mistake).
FIFA Referees Committee President Angel Maria Villar Llona defended Poll but had to concede that an error had occurred. In a statement he remarked, "Thursday evening's 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia in Stuttgart saw referee Graham Poll make an error". As a result of his error, Poll and his assistants did not progress to the second stage of the tournament. Despite encouragement from FIFA president Sepp Blatter
, and chief executives of the Football Association and Premier League, Poll has retired from refereeing international tournaments. Poll explained his decision to retire was a result of the "pain and agony" and "sleepless nights" that resulted from his mistake and the fear of it happening again.
, found Argentine defender, Roberto Ayala
, who headed it towards goal. It was diverted by goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizié's hands and bounced off the right goalpost before moving at least partially into the goal. Tizié fumbled the ball before returning it back into play, sparking protests from the Argentine players to Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere
.
De Bleeckere looked to his assistant for help in the decision, but no confirmation could be made. TV replays reached no verdict either as to whether it was a goal. Ayala was furious at referee Bleeckere for failing to award the goal and Argentine striker, Hernán Crespo
later said, "It would have been a lot easier if that had counted."
awarded a 26th minute goal by Shunsuke Nakamura
to the Japanese despite a protest from Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer
. Schwarzer appeared to have been impeded upon by Japanese forward Atsushi Yanagisawa
as he had come forward to punch the ball clear. Japanese striker Naohiro Takahara
then collided with Schwarzer, leaving him unable to prevent the ball rolling into the goal.
Schwarzer told reporters later that El Fatah had apologised to him for his mistake and had told Australian captain Mark Viduka
that he was grateful "that God was on his side because the result went [Australia's] way in the end." Viduka told reporters "it was obvious that he made a mistake but everybody makes a mistake." Abdul-Fatah denied issuing an apology however, and said that "FIFA’s refereeing committee... agreed unanimously that Japan’s goal against Australia was correct," and would have awarded a penalty against Australia had the ball not gone in, as Takahara was pushed by Craig Moore
into Schwarzer.
Australian coach Guus Hiddink
chose to "slightly, but not totally, apologise" for an incident off-field where he pushed an official off-balance in a scramble to see the television replay of the foul. Hiddink said he believed it was an obvious foul, but also that Schwarzer "can defend himself even more" against such incidents.
FIFA communications director Markus Siegler told the press later that a penalty should have been awarded to Japan for a foul on Japanese midfielder Yūichi Komano
by Tim Cahill
. Siegler said "it was a clear mistake of the referee." Had a yellow card been shown to Cahill, who scored the deciding goal for Australia minutes later, he would have been sent off, with the score at 1-1. The Japanese coach Zico
expressed frustration at FIFA's comments, saying that El Fatah had apologised for the mistake to the Australians but had not apologised for the error which FIFA admitted to. Japan Football Association
filed an official complaint against the Egyptian referee, who was sent home along with English referee Graham Poll.
had a header at goal which appeared to be saved by Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae
from behind the goal line. Mexican referee Benito Archundia
and his linesmen did not believe the ball had passed the line, and no goal was awarded. The game resulted in a last minute 1-1 draw, shocking the French. French coach Raymond Domenech
believed that France "scored a second time, but the referee did not recognize that." Television replays showed that the goal should have been awarded. French player Thierry Henry
claimed the team was "really upset" when they saw the ball had passed the goal-line as "if he (the referee) had given us the valid goal, that would not have offered the Koreans the opportunity to come back into the match." However, it should also be noted that the corner kick leading to the header should have been a goal kick, as the ball had gone out of bounds off a French player.
The controversy revived questions over the possibility of goal-line technology use at the World Cup. A FIFA spokesperson, Markus Siegler, ruled out the short term likelihood saying that "its introduction depends on a system being developed that is 100 percent reliable". French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez
voiced opposition to video replays during a game as "it's a shame to stop the play." Barthez said that he'd like to see more referees with "one in each half, and one behind each goal."
assumed that Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor
had taken a dive in the penalty area, whereas most replays implied his heels had been clipped by Patrick Muller. The website Sport Network discusses the incident as follows: "Referee Carlos Amarilla caused controversy in the thirty-fifth minute when he somehow failed to gave a penalty after Adebayor was hacked down by Patrick Muller. The Arsenal man had cut inside and seemed ready to unleash a shot at the Swiss goal, until Muller's trailing leg took Adebayor down."
allowed Alexander Frei's 77th-minute second goal for the Swiss even though
one of the Assistant referees had flagged for offside.
Elizondo waved for play to continue after a cross from Xavier Margairaz
ball was deflected into Frei's path by a Korean defender and, although the lineman flagged for offside, the Argentine official over-ruled the decision and allowed the Swiss goal to stand. The Korean players and head coach, Dick Advocaat
protested, but referee Elizondo ignored their protest, and gave a yellow card to Korean player Choi Jin-cheul
.
Earlier in the game the Koreans thought they had won a penalty early in the second half when the ball bounced up off the pitch hitting the hand of Patrick Müller
, but the incident was seen by the referee as accidental.
awarded a penalty kick to Ghana
, which led to Ghana's winning goal and qualification to the Second round, and to the elimination of the United States
from the tournament. The British newspaper Financial Times
described the incident as follows: "The match turned on the worst of refereeing decisions. Germany’s Markus Merk was standing in a perfect position when USA defender Oguchi Onyewu
won a header against the fabulously monikered Razak Pimpong. But inexplicably Merk blew for a penalty because of a non-existent push." The BBC
agreed with this view in its match report: "Merk added one more twist to the first half, with a controversial penalty award. He penalised Onyewu, who appeared to win a clean header as Pimpong collapsed dramatically".
. It was during this game that Poll made his 3-yellow card blunder (see above). In the 7th minute, as Australian captain Mark Viduka
approached the goals, attempting to score, Croatian Josip Šimunić
wrestled him away from the ball. The Australians appealed for a penalty, however Poll ruled that there was no foul. In the 75th minute Croatian defender, Stjepan Tomas
made a handball which mirrored his penalised 38th minute error, however it was not sighted by the referee and a corner rather than a penalty was awarded. To add to the game's controversy, the 79th minute goal by Australian striker Harry Kewell
appeared to have been scored while Kewell was in an offside position. Also an apparent goal to Australia in the last second of the match was not allowed as the referee accidentally delayed blowing full-time fumbling for his whistle, while play continued.
failed to award Tunisia a penalty kick in the second half and then mistakenly awarded one to Ukraine, which when converted by Andriy Shevchenko
resulted in the 1-0 win and qualification by Ukraine to the second round. At the time Tunisia was playing with 10 men since Ziad Jaziri was sent off for his second yellow card in the last minute of the first half. The German magazine Spiegel Online described the turn of events this way: "Tunisia went close on 65 minutes after Namouchi was hacked down on the edge of the box. Ayari
's left footed free kick deflected off Voronin
in the Ukrainian wall and crept just over the bar. Replays suggested the ball hit Voronin's elbow and Tunisia could feel aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty. Then almost immediately the action switched to the other end when Shevchenko stumbled into the penalty area only to be brought down by Haggui
. This time replays suggested Shevchenko fell over his own feet but Amarilla pointed to the spot and Shevchenko made no mistake with the penalty kick. It was tough luck for the Tunisians with two dodgy decisions costing the team badly and with only ten men left on the field the game looked beyond them."
set a new record for the number of red cards issued in a World Cup match with four, and tied the record for yellow cards with 16. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said of Ivanov, "I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee," although he later recanted, saying, "I regret what I said about his actions in the match between Portugal and the Netherlands." The managers also blamed each other for not playing fairly; Portugal
's Luiz Felipe Scolari
said, "FIFA talks about fair play. There was no fair play," while the Netherlands
' Marco van Basten responded, "If you talk about fair play, you should watch yourself first... [Portugal was] a bit more experienced with all these tricks and all this time wasting."
Ivanov criticized both teams, reportedly saying, "They are known for time wasting and hitting from behind. I was unpleasantly surprised by seeing such things from the Dutch. More so, they were the instigators."
In the 7th minute, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo
left the match with an injury after being tackled in the thigh by Khalid Boulahrouz
. International Herald Tribune writer Rob Hughes wrote that he had not seen "a more cynical and brutal attempt to kick a player out of a match than what [Boulahrouz] did to [Ronaldo]," and that he should have been red carded on two occasions, but only received a yellow card. Boulahrouz was sent off in the 63rd minute after receiving his second yellow card for an elbow to Luís Figo
's face.
In the 60th minute, Figo received a yellow card despite head-butting Dutchman Mark van Bommel
, usually a red card offence, as stated by Law 12
of "The Laws of Football" - A player shall be sent off if he/she is guilty of violent conduct. Figo did not receive further sanctions and was cleared to play in the subsequent quarter-final match against England
as he had been shown the yellow card during the match. Van Bommel said of the decision, "Figo head butted me and that is not a yellow card. I blame the referee, it was a clear red card."
in the final seconds of injury time, after Australian Lucas Neill
's missed tackle was ruled obstruction in the penalty area against Fabio Grosso
. With the score 0-0 and Italy playing with ten men, the penalty resulted in a win by Italy when converted by Francesco Totti
, advancing Italy to the quarter-finals.
Grahame L. Jones of the Los Angeles Times
wrote that this "blatantly incorrect penalty kick awarded by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo
in the final seconds was sown in South Korea four years ago. Monday's devastating blow to the Socceroos was a wakeup call", referring to the Italy vs. South Korea in the 2002 FIFA World Cup
, when South Korea defeated Italy in a knock-out round match with controversial decisions. However, Grosso maintained he was fouled, saying, "I tried to avoid contact, I got past one defender but then my leg got stuck in between the other defender's legs and I had no option but to go down. My aim was to go all the way." The subsequent penalty remains controversial to this day. FIFA President Joseph Blatter seemed to disparage the referee's decision at Australian FA meeting, but later clarified his remarks in a way that didn't challenge Cantelejo's on the field ruling.
Another controversy arose because the referee showed Italy's Marco Materazzi
a straight red card for a challenge on Australia's Marco Bresciano in the 50th minute, which may have merited only a yellow card. The Singapore paper, Today
, wrote that the referee "judged that Bresciano was denied a goal-scoring opportunity," while other commentators thought the red card excessive.
put the ball in the net in the 46th minute, but was in an offside position. However, the referee's assistant kept his flag down, and Slovak referee Ľuboš Micheľ
, awarded the goal. The CBC
described it like so: "Brazil... scored the next goal, albeit with a fair bit of controversy. Adriano scored on a breakaway in first-half injury time, using his left thigh to knock in a pass from the right wing from captain Cafu
. However, replays showed Adriano was in an offside position when he touched the ball into the net."
called a foul against Spain
's Carles Puyol
. France
's Thierry Henry
went down holding his face, although Puyol appeared to hit him in the chest. Patrick Vieira
scored from the resulting free kick and France won the match 3-1. "For me it wasn't a foul, if anything it was a foul by (Henry) because he came from behind and collided with me," Puyol said, "but referees can get things wrong." Spain coach Luis Aragonés
also called the foul "non-existent". But Henry said, "Puyol came up to me afterwards and apologised so how is that cheating?" He also told reporters, "Look at the replay, their left-back was going to take the ball and Puyol came across me and blocked me. If that's basketball that's a good block, but we're not playing basketball. In my head I'm not a guy who does go down or cheats." Television announcer and former Netherlands
international Ruud Gullit
said of the play, "I am a little bit disappointed. It shows that cheating works."
went down inside the Italian penalty area under a challenge from Italian defender Marco Materazzi
. The call was somewhat controversial as replays showed Materazzi barely made contact with the Frenchman.http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/storyview.html?/story/sports/national/2006/07/09/france-italy-worldcup.html
As it was put by an Associated Press report posted in the ESPN website "Malouda stumbled -- many might say dived -- in the penalty area and Elizondo immediately signaled a penalty kick." http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373590&cc=5901
Italy then equalized at the 19th minute with a header by Materazzi himself and went on to win the title on penalty shoot out. The controversy surrounding the penalty was however overshadowed by the discussion surrounding Zinedine Zidane
's sending off in extra-time for headbutting an Italian player in the chest.
Zidane was sent off after the restart of the match, contrary to FIFA Laws of the Game, Law 5: The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided that he has not restarted play or terminated the match'.'
After the Australian team was knocked out of the tournament as a result of a controversial penalty given against defender Lucas Neill
in their Second round match against Italy, Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold
was quoted as saying, "We are a small footballing nation that gets no favours. All we ask for is a fair go, and I don't think we received it over the four games.". Likewise, after going down to Brazil
in their second round match, Ghana
's head coach Ratomir Dujković
stated that "the referee might as well have been wearing a yellow shirt under his own".
One basis for these claims has been the irregular balance of fouls sanctioned by referees between traditional powers and emerging teams. As of June 27, the top eight seeded teams
have a combined net surplus of 93 more fouls sustained than committed with an average of 3.1 per match, according to statistics published on FIFA's website.
On average, as of 27 June, the team with the highest fouls count of the finals have been debutants; Ghana
, with a 1.95 ratio between fouls committed and fouls sustained, Tunisia
with a ratio of 1.76 fouls committed/sustained, and Australia
with a 1.75 ratio.
By contrast, the teams with fewer fouls committed have been traditional powerhouses Italy
, Brazil
and Spain
- with respective averages of 0.66, 0.67 and 0.75 in fouls committed/sustained ratios.
On the other hand the teams that committed the least fouls (less than 50 in three games) were Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, South Korea, Paraguay, Poland and Japan (the latter with just 38 fouls). Also, of the 5 teams most judged wrongly offside, four were in "Pot A", which therefore seeds them in the top 8
(Italy, Argentina, France and Brazil) and the other emerging European side Ukraine. Of the teams that were judged to be in an offside position incorrectly on no occasion in the first three games, only one (Mexico) was seeded into "Pot A".
While these statistics could be used to support claims of bias, they could also indicate that some teams are rougher and that the stronger teams are more disciplined, and their success is due to their not committing excessive fouls. Additionally it should be considered that a team in possession is more likely to sustain a foul than a defending team, and therefore the successful teams are likely to sustain more fouls.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter
told before the tournament that referees should protect big star players: "What has been clearly said to referees is ‘please protect the physical integrity of the players’, and that means protecting the big stars"
refused to talk to Australian captain Mark Viduka
when approached during the game to explain certain refereeing decisions. Although many fans believed this to be irregular, the FIFA Laws of the Game clearly state: "The captain of a team has no special status or privileges under the Laws of the Game but he has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of his team." - (Additional Instructions for the Referee)
This was part of the evidence used by the FFA to help defend Harry Kewell's after-match argument with Merk, which (pending a FIFA enquiry) threatened his participation in Australia's following match against Croatia. The enquiry later cleared the player of any wrongdoing, due to inconsistent reports between the officials, "despite photographs and television replays showing Kewell striding purposefully towards Merk, mouthing off and pointing his finger at him - the sort of anti-referee histrionics FIFA usually frowns heavily upon."
. He gave a total of 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards. On this occasion, FIFA
president Sepp Blatter
publicly criticised his performance.
In an interview to Russian press, Ivanov stated that he "had been warned of the Portuguese harsh tactics but was surprised that the Dutch started it". This sentence generated an official protest of the Portuguese federation with FIFA.
wore a sky blue shirt during the penalty shoot-outs. An advertisement placed directly behind the goal had white characters on sky blue background, and three people standing behind it were also dressed in sky blue and white shirts. Argentine fans claim that this was intentionally made to distract Argentine players at the penalty kicks.
spoke in defence of FIFA's officiating in the tournament, stating "... referees are only human, and they make mistakes. We have to reduce the number of mistakes, but we're all still searching in vain for perfection." Despite Blatter's statement, both Ivanov and Poll, referees at the center of the two largest controversies, were not included on the twelve-team list of officials selected by FIFA to referee the final eight matches of the competition.
was only confirmed in the job the day before their opening match against South Korea. Pfister had previously resigned as coach of the team. The players threatened to boycott the final group match against France due to pay disputes.
had possession of the ball when the game was interrupted by the referee to assist injured Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho
. Under fair play conduct, when the game re-started, the Netherlands
should have either not disputed the ball release or taken the ball without challenge and returned it to Portugal, however teams are not bound by the "Fair Play Agreement" signed before the tournament and no penalty can arise from such a situation. Instead, Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga kept possession, and was subsequently tackled from behind by Deco
, who received a yellow card. He received a second yellow card in the 78th minute for time wasting and was sent off, earning a ban for the quarter-final match against England
.
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
accused Dutch coach Marco van Basten of encouraging his players to play on, and said, "The Portuguese Football Federation, on the basis of the FIFA Fair Play documents, will put in a request to overturn the card for Deco." However, Portugal did not officially file the appeal, and FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler told the press, "There was a phone call from Portugal and they were clearly told 'forget it'."
expressed satisfaction in their ability to contain and deal with hooliganism
, speculation was rife that a number of potential flashpoints existed which could cause widespread public disorder. With a number of routes into the country, amongst them the open land borders which are a consequence of the Schengen agreement
, apprehension of known troublemakers and organisers of disturbances looked to be a very real problem. However, during the World Cup, Germany suspended its rules granting passport-free travel to EU citizens. As an illustration of this, on 8 June, German police apprehended 9 English hooligans attempting to enter the country via the Czech
border. Britain has a particularly stringent policy of restricting foreign travel of known football hooligans during periods where the England team are involved. 3,500 banning orders were served, and by 8 June all but 150 had surrendered their passports. On 9 June Channel 4 News
in the UK reported that although there had been no violence, England fans in Frankfurt
had been kicking footballs at the windows of the city's 600 year old Römer
city hall building, although local police decided not to take action over this minor incident and the staff at the Mayor's office apparently took the attempted vandalism
in good humour. On the day of England's first match against Paraguay two England fans were arrested for having swastikas and SS
insignia painted on their bodies. The two were flown back to England to appear in court; one was found guilty and banned from attending football matches until 2008, while the other was not banned as the symbol (the double-sig rune
of the SS) was painted on his back, and he may not have been able to see it or known what it was. The court heard that the fan found guilty also had a letter J on his arm, believed to be a slight to Jews, but claimed not to know its meaning.
There was also concern over hooligans among the 300,000 Polish fans who travelled to Germany for the tournament. This supposition was borne out as clashes between rival groups of supporters culminated in the arrest of 429 prior to and in the wake of the game between Germany and Poland in Dortmund
.
On 14 June, ITV
news in the UK reported that up to that date 7 England fans had been arrested, one for a "serious offence".
were planning violence against foreigners. Germany contains a small but vocal neo-Nazi minority who have engaged in violent attacks against the country's immigrants, as well as foreign visitors, since the fall of the Berlin Wall
and subsequent German reunification. According to German police, neo-Nazi hate crime was on the rise and had increased significantly over the preceding few months.
Two human rights organizations, the Africa Council, based in Berlin
, and the International League of Human Rights advised black and Asian fans to avoid certain areas of eastern Germany during the World Cup.
The far-right NPD
, an organisation which the German government unsuccessfully tried to ban in 2001, had planned to march through Gelsenkirchen
on 10 June, a day after Ecuador
met Poland
in the city's new purpose-built stadium. This march had first been banned by the German police, but later permitted by the Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court. Other far-right marches were planned for Frankfurt
and Herne during the competition, although these were subsequently banned.
FIFA
announced that at the World Cup, teams could have points deducted for racist remarks by players and officials. A "Football Against Racism" logo covered each field's center circle until kickoff at all World Cup matches. Prior to every quarter-final match, the captains read a "declaration against racism" over the PA system.
The European Union
launched a campaign against racism before the World Cup. Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesman for the EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner indicated that the campaign also targeted prostitution rings and human trafficking.
(PACE), the Nordic Council
and Amnesty International
) expressed concern that there would be an increase in the trafficking of women up to and during the World Cup. PACE and Amnesty claimed that 30,000 women and girls might become the subject of slavery for the purposes of forced prostitution during the World Cup. They called upon the German authorities to monitor sex venues during the World Cup and provide support for the victims of trafficking.
According to German police, there was no noticeable increase in forced prostitution during the World Cup. While there was a significant influx of (legal and illegal) prostitutes to Germany before the World Cup, most of those were reported to have left within the first two weeks. Police officials from several cities quoted prostitutes saying that business actually decreased.
provider Avaya
indicated that it expected, and was prepared for, the denial-of-service attack
s which were unsuccessfully launched at the IT network for the 2002 World Cup
. No successful attacks were launched on the German World Cup system.
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
generated various controversies, including onfield disputes, critiques of official decisions, and team salary issues. Most centered around specific refereeing decisions, which led many of the world's media to claim that the referees were spoiling the World Cup. Numerous World Cup records were also set by controversial calls, including Graham Poll's three-card error and Valentin Ivanov's record number of cards in a single match.
FIFA's "Fair Play" agreement also came under intense scrutiny during the tournament, particularly during the second-round match between Portugal and Netherlands.
Three yellow cards issued (Croatia vs. Australia, group stage)
The deciding game for the Group F runners-up place, Croatia vs. Australia saw English referee Graham PollGraham Poll
Graham Poll is an English former football referee in the Premier League and is considered the best English referee of the last 25 years in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics...
mistakenly issue three yellow cards to Croatian Josip Šimunić
Josip Šimunic
Josip Šimunić is a Croatian footballer who plays as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team.-Club career:...
before sending him off. Šimunić was shown a yellow card by Poll in the 61st minute for a foul on Australian Harry Kewell. In the 90th minute, Poll held up a yellow card in front of Šimunić for a foul, but did not follow it with a red card, as is required upon a second yellow card. In the 93rd minute, after Poll had blown the final whistle, Šimunić approached Poll angrily and gave him a push. Poll thus issued Šimunić with a 3rd yellow card and also showed him the red card.
Questions were raised as to why Poll's assistants Phil Sharp
Philip Sharp (football referee)
Philip Sharp is an English Premier League assistant referee and one of only 10 match officials from the United Kingdom to have officiated in a FIFA World Cup Final....
and Glenn Turner
Glenn Turner
Glenn Maitland Turner played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's best and most prolific batsmen. He is the current head of the New Zealand Cricket selection panel....
, and fourth official Kevin Stott
Kevin Stott
Kevin Stott is a soccer referee from the United States of America. He has been a FIFA referee since 1995. Stott was selected as a referee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany....
, had also failed to realise the error. Poll later denied any blame should be placed upon the other officials saying, "I was the referee, it was my error and the buck stops with me". Poll reported that the officials had felt "disbelief" upon hearing of the error in the dressing room after the game. He and the other officials consequently reviewed the DVD of the game, and Poll realised that his "dream was over".
Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia
Football Federation Australia is the governing body for the sport of football in Australia. Before 1 January 2005, it was known as the Australian Soccer Association , which succeeded Soccer Australia in this role in 2003...
chief executive John O'Neill
John O'Neill (sport administrator)
John O'Neill is an Australian sporting administrator. He has been involved with both rugby union and football at the national level, after being head of the NSW State Bank...
later said that "Australia could have had grounds for a very strong appeal should Croatia have won the match". Poll also explained the reason for his mistake by saying that "he incorrectly noted down the name of the Australia number three Craig Moore when booking Šimunić for the second time and failed to realise his error" (Šimunić is Australian-born, hence speaks English with an Australian accent, probably causing the mistake).
FIFA Referees Committee President Angel Maria Villar Llona defended Poll but had to concede that an error had occurred. In a statement he remarked, "Thursday evening's 2-2 draw between Croatia and Australia in Stuttgart saw referee Graham Poll make an error". As a result of his error, Poll and his assistants did not progress to the second stage of the tournament. Despite encouragement from FIFA president Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter
Joseph S. Blatter , commonly known as Sepp Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA . He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007, and 2011...
, and chief executives of the Football Association and Premier League, Poll has retired from refereeing international tournaments. Poll explained his decision to retire was a result of the "pain and agony" and "sleepless nights" that resulted from his mistake and the fear of it happening again.
Argentina vs. Côte d'Ivoire (Group stage)
Argentina was awarded a corner kick when one goal ahead in their game against the Ivory Coast. The kick, taken by Juan Román RiquelmeJuan Román Riquelme
Juan Román Riquelme is an Argentine footballer who plays for Boca Juniors. A longtime Argentine international, Riquelme is best known for his spells with Boca Juniors and Villarreal...
, found Argentine defender, Roberto Ayala
Roberto Ayala
Roberto Fabián Ayala , nicknamed el Ratón , is a former Argentine football centre back.Regarded as one of the best central defenders of his generation, Ayala captained the Argentine national team for more matches than anyone else...
, who headed it towards goal. It was diverted by goalkeeper Jean-Jacques Tizié's hands and bounced off the right goalpost before moving at least partially into the goal. Tizié fumbled the ball before returning it back into play, sparking protests from the Argentine players to Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere
Frank De Bleeckere
Frank De Bleeckere is a Belgian football referee. He has been a referee since 1984, and an international official since 1998...
.
De Bleeckere looked to his assistant for help in the decision, but no confirmation could be made. TV replays reached no verdict either as to whether it was a goal. Ayala was furious at referee Bleeckere for failing to award the goal and Argentine striker, Hernán Crespo
Hernán Crespo
Hernán Jorge Crespo is an Argentine footballer who plays for Parma in the Italian Serie A. Crespo has scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 18 years. His honors include an Olympic Games silver medal, a Copa Libertadores, an English Premier League title and three Scudettos. He was topscorer in...
later said, "It would have been a lot easier if that had counted."
Australia vs. Japan (Group stage)
In the first round game of Australia versus Japan, Egyptian referee Essam Abd El FatahEssam Abd El Fatah
Essam Abd El Fatah is an Egyptian football referee. Abd El Fatah has been a referee since 2001; his first international game was between Morocco and Sierra Leone in 2003. He was the referee for the match between Australia and Japan in the 2006 FIFA World Cup...
awarded a 26th minute goal by Shunsuke Nakamura
Shunsuke Nakamura
is a Japanese footballer who currently plays for Yokohama F. Marinos in J. League Division 1. He is one of the most prominent and successful Asian players to have played in Scotland and on 13 September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League and the second Asian...
to the Japanese despite a protest from Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer
Mark Schwarzer
Mark Schwarzer OAM is an Australian association football player who plays as a goalkeeper. He currently plays for Premier League club Fulham. He rose to prominence during his time at North-East England football club Middlesbrough...
. Schwarzer appeared to have been impeded upon by Japanese forward Atsushi Yanagisawa
Atsushi Yanagisawa
is a Japanese football player. Currently he is a striker for Vegalta Sendai in the top division of the J-League. Yanagisawa was born in Kosugi-machi, Toyama-ken, Japan...
as he had come forward to punch the ball clear. Japanese striker Naohiro Takahara
Naohiro Takahara
is a Japanese footballer. He currently plays for J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse as a strikerTakahara was born in Mishima, Shizuoka. He has previously played for Júbilo Iwata in Japan, Boca Juniors in Argentina, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.On December 3, 2006, he...
then collided with Schwarzer, leaving him unable to prevent the ball rolling into the goal.
Schwarzer told reporters later that El Fatah had apologised to him for his mistake and had told Australian captain Mark Viduka
Mark Viduka
Mark Anthony Viduka is a former Australian soccer player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last 16.-Melbourne Croatia:...
that he was grateful "that God was on his side because the result went [Australia's] way in the end." Viduka told reporters "it was obvious that he made a mistake but everybody makes a mistake." Abdul-Fatah denied issuing an apology however, and said that "FIFA’s refereeing committee... agreed unanimously that Japan’s goal against Australia was correct," and would have awarded a penalty against Australia had the ball not gone in, as Takahara was pushed by Craig Moore
Craig Moore
Craig Andrew Moore , is a retired Australian soccer defender.Moore is best known for his two spells with Scottish Premier Division / Scottish Premier League club Rangers...
into Schwarzer.
Australian coach Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink is a Dutch football manager and former player. He was the most recently manager of the Turkish national football team. He is considered to be one of the best managers of his generation and was the best-paid coach in international football in 2009...
chose to "slightly, but not totally, apologise" for an incident off-field where he pushed an official off-balance in a scramble to see the television replay of the foul. Hiddink said he believed it was an obvious foul, but also that Schwarzer "can defend himself even more" against such incidents.
FIFA communications director Markus Siegler told the press later that a penalty should have been awarded to Japan for a foul on Japanese midfielder Yūichi Komano
Yuichi Komano
is a Japanese football player. He plays for J. League division 1 side Júbilo Iwata. He is right-footed and mainly plays right full back for the club but he is often employed in the left for Japan national football team.-Playing career:...
by Tim Cahill
Tim Cahill
Timothy Filiga "Tim" Cahill is an football player of Australian nationality who plays for Everton and the Australian national football team...
. Siegler said "it was a clear mistake of the referee." Had a yellow card been shown to Cahill, who scored the deciding goal for Australia minutes later, he would have been sent off, with the score at 1-1. The Japanese coach Zico
Zico
Arthur Antunes Coimbra , better known as Zico , is a Brazilian coach and former footballer. He is the current head coach of the Iraq national football team. Often called the "White Pelé", he is commonly considered one of the most skilled finishers and one of the best passers ever and possibly the...
expressed frustration at FIFA's comments, saying that El Fatah had apologised for the mistake to the Australians but had not apologised for the error which FIFA admitted to. Japan Football Association
Japan Football Association
The Japan Football Association, sometimes known as the Japan Soccer Association , is the governing body responsible for the administration of association football in Japan. It is responsible for the national team as well as club competitions....
filed an official complaint against the Egyptian referee, who was sent home along with English referee Graham Poll.
France vs. Korea Republic (Group stage)
In the 31st minute of the game between France and Korea Republic, the French midfielder Patrick VieiraPatrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira is a retired French footballer of Senegalese descent who is the Football Development Executive at Manchester City....
had a header at goal which appeared to be saved by Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae
Lee Woon-Jae
Lee Woon-Jae is a South Korean football goalkeeper, who plays for Chunnam Dragons in the South Korean K-League. He was part of Korea's 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cup campaigns...
from behind the goal line. Mexican referee Benito Archundia
Benito Archundia
Benito Armando Archundia Téllez is a retired Mexican football referee. He is known in Mexico as Armando Archundia, but appears as Benito Archundia in FIFA records. He has been a professional referee since 1985 and has had his FIFA referee permission since 1993...
and his linesmen did not believe the ball had passed the line, and no goal was awarded. The game resulted in a last minute 1-1 draw, shocking the French. French coach Raymond Domenech
Raymond Domenech
Raymond Domenech is a retired French footballer and the former manager of the France national team.-2006 World Cup:On 12 July 2004, Domenech was a surprise choice to succeed Jacques Santini after the country's disappointing exit from UEFA Euro 2004 by losing in the quarter-final match to the...
believed that France "scored a second time, but the referee did not recognize that." Television replays showed that the goal should have been awarded. French player Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and...
claimed the team was "really upset" when they saw the ball had passed the goal-line as "if he (the referee) had given us the valid goal, that would not have offered the Koreans the opportunity to come back into the match." However, it should also be noted that the corner kick leading to the header should have been a goal kick, as the ball had gone out of bounds off a French player.
The controversy revived questions over the possibility of goal-line technology use at the World Cup. A FIFA spokesperson, Markus Siegler, ruled out the short term likelihood saying that "its introduction depends on a system being developed that is 100 percent reliable". French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez
Fabien Barthez
Fabien Alain Barthez is a former French footballer goalkeeper who won honours with Manchester United and the French national team, with whom he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000 and reached the final of the 2006 World Cup. He shares the record for the most World Cup finals clean sheets...
voiced opposition to video replays during a game as "it's a shame to stop the play." Barthez said that he'd like to see more referees with "one in each half, and one behind each goal."
Togo vs. Switzerland (Group stage)
Near the end of the first half, Paraguayan referee Carlos AmarillaCarlos Amarilla
Carlos Arecio Amarilla Demarqui is a football referee from Paraguay. Amarilla has been a referee since 1997 and his first international game was between Uruguay and Ecuador...
assumed that Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adebayor
Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor is a Togolese footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a striker on loan from Manchester City. He plays in the same position for the Togo national team. Adebayor previously played for Metz, Monaco and Arsenal and was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2008...
had taken a dive in the penalty area, whereas most replays implied his heels had been clipped by Patrick Muller. The website Sport Network discusses the incident as follows: "Referee Carlos Amarilla caused controversy in the thirty-fifth minute when he somehow failed to gave a penalty after Adebayor was hacked down by Patrick Muller. The Arsenal man had cut inside and seemed ready to unleash a shot at the Swiss goal, until Muller's trailing leg took Adebayor down."
Korea Republic vs. Switzerland (Group stage)
Referee Horacio ElizondoHoracio Elizondo
Horacio Marcelo Elizondo is a former Argentine international football referee best known for his officiation throughout the 2006 FIFA World Cup...
allowed Alexander Frei's 77th-minute second goal for the Swiss even though
one of the Assistant referees had flagged for offside.
Elizondo waved for play to continue after a cross from Xavier Margairaz
Xavier Margairaz
Xavier Margairaz is a Swiss footballer who plays for FC Zürich mainly as a defensive midfielder.-Club career:...
ball was deflected into Frei's path by a Korean defender and, although the lineman flagged for offside, the Argentine official over-ruled the decision and allowed the Swiss goal to stand. The Korean players and head coach, Dick Advocaat
Dick Advocaat
Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat is a Dutch football manager and former player currently the manager of the Russia national football team.He has been moderately successful as a football player and as a coach, which included two stints with the Dutch national football team...
protested, but referee Elizondo ignored their protest, and gave a yellow card to Korean player Choi Jin-cheul
Choi Jin-Cheul
Choi Jin-Cheul is a South Korean football player, who played for the K-League team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.Choi made 65 appearances for the South Korea national football team. He usually played as centre-back and made a very strong team with Hong Myung-Bo and Kim Tae-Young during the World Cup 2002...
.
Earlier in the game the Koreans thought they had won a penalty early in the second half when the ball bounced up off the pitch hitting the hand of Patrick Müller
Patrick Müller
Patrick Müller is a Swiss professional footballer who currently is a Free Agent after ending his contract with Monaco.-Club career:...
, but the incident was seen by the referee as accidental.
Ghana vs. United States (Group stage)
In the last moments of the first half, German referee Markus MerkMarkus Merk
Dr. Markus Merk is a former top-level German football referee. He is a six-time winner of the German Referee of the Year Award and the record holder in games refereed in the Bundesliga. In 2005, Merk was awarded the German Bundesverdienstkreuz in recognition of his service to football and his...
awarded a penalty kick to Ghana
Ghana national football team
The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the Black Stars, is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association...
, which led to Ghana's winning goal and qualification to the Second round, and to the elimination of the United States
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
from the tournament. The British newspaper Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
described the incident as follows: "The match turned on the worst of refereeing decisions. Germany’s Markus Merk was standing in a perfect position when USA defender Oguchi Onyewu
Oguchi Onyewu
Oguchialu Chijoke Onyewu also known as "Oguchi" Onyewu is an American soccer player who plays as a defender for Sporting Clube de Portugal, in Primeira Liga, and the United States national team. Onyewu also holds a Belgian passport....
won a header against the fabulously monikered Razak Pimpong. But inexplicably Merk blew for a penalty because of a non-existent push." The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
agreed with this view in its match report: "Merk added one more twist to the first half, with a controversial penalty award. He penalised Onyewu, who appeared to win a clean header as Pimpong collapsed dramatically".
Croatia vs. Australia (Group stage)
The game between Australia and Croatia to decide the Group F qualifiers saw a number of controversial decisions made by English referee, Graham PollGraham Poll
Graham Poll is an English former football referee in the Premier League and is considered the best English referee of the last 25 years in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics...
. It was during this game that Poll made his 3-yellow card blunder (see above). In the 7th minute, as Australian captain Mark Viduka
Mark Viduka
Mark Anthony Viduka is a former Australian soccer player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last 16.-Melbourne Croatia:...
approached the goals, attempting to score, Croatian Josip Šimunić
Josip Šimunic
Josip Šimunić is a Croatian footballer who plays as a defender for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team.-Club career:...
wrestled him away from the ball. The Australians appealed for a penalty, however Poll ruled that there was no foul. In the 75th minute Croatian defender, Stjepan Tomas
Stjepan Tomas
Stjepan Tomas is a Croatian football defender. He is currently a free agent following his release from Turkish side Bucaspor in November 2010....
made a handball which mirrored his penalised 38th minute error, however it was not sighted by the referee and a corner rather than a penalty was awarded. To add to the game's controversy, the 79th minute goal by Australian striker Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell
Harold "Harry" Kewell is an Australian professional football midfielder who plays for Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Internationally he has received 55 caps, and scored 16 goals, while playing for the Australian national team...
appeared to have been scored while Kewell was in an offside position. Also an apparent goal to Australia in the last second of the match was not allowed as the referee accidentally delayed blowing full-time fumbling for his whistle, while play continued.
Ukraine vs. Tunisia (Group stage)
Tunisia players and supporters claim that the Paraguayan referee Carlos AmarillaCarlos Amarilla
Carlos Arecio Amarilla Demarqui is a football referee from Paraguay. Amarilla has been a referee since 1997 and his first international game was between Uruguay and Ecuador...
failed to award Tunisia a penalty kick in the second half and then mistakenly awarded one to Ukraine, which when converted by Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko is a Ukrainian footballer who plays for Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukraine national team as a striker. He is the third-highest scorer in the history of European club competition with 67 goals as of 2011-03-10, behind Filippo Inzaghi and Raúl. With 175 goals scored with A.C...
resulted in the 1-0 win and qualification by Ukraine to the second round. At the time Tunisia was playing with 10 men since Ziad Jaziri was sent off for his second yellow card in the last minute of the first half. The German magazine Spiegel Online described the turn of events this way: "Tunisia went close on 65 minutes after Namouchi was hacked down on the edge of the box. Ayari
Anis Ayari
Anis Ayari is a Tunisian footballer. He currently plays for Étoile du Sahel.-Club career:Ayari debuted as a player with Stade Tunisien in March 2002, playing both defence and midfield. Ayari moved from Stade Tunisien in 2004 to Turkish club Samsunspor...
's left footed free kick deflected off Voronin
Andriy Voronin
Andriy Viktorovych Voronin is a Ukrainian professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Dynamo Moscow. His previous clubs include Chornomorets Odessa, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Mainz, Köln, Bayer Leverkusen, and Liverpool. In the 2002–03 season, Voronin became top goalscorer in the...
in the Ukrainian wall and crept just over the bar. Replays suggested the ball hit Voronin's elbow and Tunisia could feel aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty. Then almost immediately the action switched to the other end when Shevchenko stumbled into the penalty area only to be brought down by Haggui
Karim Haggui
Karim Haggui is a Tunisian football defender. He currently plays for Hannover 96.- Early career :Haggui started his career in 1998 with AS Kasserine in his home town, eventually moving to Etoile du Sahel two years later and starting his professional career there in 2003...
. This time replays suggested Shevchenko fell over his own feet but Amarilla pointed to the spot and Shevchenko made no mistake with the penalty kick. It was tough luck for the Tunisians with two dodgy decisions costing the team badly and with only ten men left on the field the game looked beyond them."
Portugal vs. Netherlands (Second round)
Referee Valentin IvanovValentin Valentinovich Ivanov
Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov is a Russian international football referee and a former player. The son of two Olympic champions of 1956, Valentin Ivanov and Lidiya Ivanova, he lives in Moscow where he works as a teacher....
set a new record for the number of red cards issued in a World Cup match with four, and tied the record for yellow cards with 16. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said of Ivanov, "I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee," although he later recanted, saying, "I regret what I said about his actions in the match between Portugal and the Netherlands." The managers also blamed each other for not playing fairly; Portugal
Portugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...
's Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari , ComIH , also known as Felipão in Brazil and Phil Scolari in the United Kingdom, is a World Cup-winning Brazilian football manager. He is currently the manager of Palmeiras. He served as the manager of the Portuguese national team from July 12, 2003 to June 30, 2008...
said, "FIFA talks about fair play. There was no fair play," while the Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
' Marco van Basten responded, "If you talk about fair play, you should watch yourself first... [Portugal was] a bit more experienced with all these tricks and all this time wasting."
Ivanov criticized both teams, reportedly saying, "They are known for time wasting and hitting from behind. I was unpleasantly surprised by seeing such things from the Dutch. More so, they were the instigators."
In the 7th minute, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH, , commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and is the captain of the Portuguese national team...
left the match with an injury after being tackled in the thigh by Khalid Boulahrouz
Khalid Boulahrouz
Khalid Boulahrouz is a Dutch footballer of Berber Moroccan Rif descent, who plays for the Netherlands and VfB Stuttgart. His nickname is "Khalid the Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" his opposition....
. International Herald Tribune writer Rob Hughes wrote that he had not seen "a more cynical and brutal attempt to kick a player out of a match than what [Boulahrouz] did to [Ronaldo]," and that he should have been red carded on two occasions, but only received a yellow card. Boulahrouz was sent off in the 63rd minute after receiving his second yellow card for an elbow to Luís Figo
Luís Figo
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, OIH, is a Portuguese former international footballer. He played as a midfielder for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale, during a career which spanned over a period of 20 years. He retired from football on 31 May 2009...
's face.
In the 60th minute, Figo received a yellow card despite head-butting Dutchman Mark van Bommel
Mark van Bommel
Mark Peter Gertruda Andreas van Bommel is a Dutch footballer who currently plays for Milan and captains the Netherlands national team as a midfielder....
, usually a red card offence, as stated by Law 12
Misconduct (football)
Misconduct in association football is any conduct by a player that is deemed by the referee to warrant a disciplinary sanction in accordance with Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. Misconduct may occur at any time, including when the ball is out of play, during half-time and before and after the...
of "The Laws of Football" - A player shall be sent off if he/she is guilty of violent conduct. Figo did not receive further sanctions and was cleared to play in the subsequent quarter-final match against England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
as he had been shown the yellow card during the match. Van Bommel said of the decision, "Figo head butted me and that is not a yellow card. I blame the referee, it was a clear red card."
Italy vs. Australia (Second round)
The referee awarded a penalty kick for ItalyItaly national football team
The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...
in the final seconds of injury time, after Australian Lucas Neill
Lucas Neill
Lucas Edward Neill is an Australian Soccer player who currently plays for UAE Pro-League club Al Jazira. He is a full back. Neill had spent almost 15 years of his career playing in England. He represented Australia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, the 2010 World Cup in South...
's missed tackle was ruled obstruction in the penalty area against Fabio Grosso
Fabio Grosso
Fabio Grosso, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus. Grosso is primarily a left wingback, but can also play as left back. He is also a free kick, penalty kick and corner kick specialist...
. With the score 0-0 and Italy playing with ten men, the penalty resulted in a win by Italy when converted by Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti, Ufficiale OMRI, is an Italian footballer who is the captain of Serie A club Roma. His primary position is that of a trequartista, though he has also been successfully utilized as a lone striker. Totti has spent his entire career at Roma, is the number-one goalscorer and the most...
, advancing Italy to the quarter-finals.
Grahame L. Jones of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote that this "blatantly incorrect penalty kick awarded by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo
Luis Medina Cantalejo
Luis Medina Cantalejo is a retired Spanish football referee.Professionally, Medina Cantalejo is a sports assessor who lives in Tomares, west of Seville. He was one of the few officials allowed to officiate the domestic clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona...
in the final seconds was sown in South Korea four years ago. Monday's devastating blow to the Socceroos was a wakeup call", referring to the Italy vs. South Korea in the 2002 FIFA World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
, when South Korea defeated Italy in a knock-out round match with controversial decisions. However, Grosso maintained he was fouled, saying, "I tried to avoid contact, I got past one defender but then my leg got stuck in between the other defender's legs and I had no option but to go down. My aim was to go all the way." The subsequent penalty remains controversial to this day. FIFA President Joseph Blatter seemed to disparage the referee's decision at Australian FA meeting, but later clarified his remarks in a way that didn't challenge Cantelejo's on the field ruling.
Another controversy arose because the referee showed Italy's Marco Materazzi
Marco Materazzi
Marco Materazzi , is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender, and is currently a free agent.At the beginning of his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and with Premier League side Everton. He spent two periods with Perugia and signed for...
a straight red card for a challenge on Australia's Marco Bresciano in the 50th minute, which may have merited only a yellow card. The Singapore paper, Today
Today (Singapore newspaper)
Today is a free English-language compact in Singapore published by government-owned MediaCorp print media arm. It is distributed from Monday to Sunday....
, wrote that the referee "judged that Bresciano was denied a goal-scoring opportunity," while other commentators thought the red card excessive.
Brazil vs. Ghana (Second round)
Brazil striker AdrianoAdriano Leite Ribeiro
Adriano Leite Ribeiro , commonly known as simply Adriano, is a Brazilian footballer who played striker who currently plays for Corinthians...
put the ball in the net in the 46th minute, but was in an offside position. However, the referee's assistant kept his flag down, and Slovak referee Ľuboš Micheľ
Luboš Michel
Ľuboš Micheľ is a former top-level Slovak football referee.Micheľ became a FIFA referee at the age of 25. One big milestone in his career was refereeing the 2003 UEFA Cup Final between Porto and Celtic...
, awarded the goal. The CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
described it like so: "Brazil... scored the next goal, albeit with a fair bit of controversy. Adriano scored on a breakaway in first-half injury time, using his left thigh to knock in a pass from the right wing from captain Cafu
Cafu
Marcos Evangelista de Moraes , better known as Cafu, is a former Brazilian footballer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest right-backs ever. He was given this nickname due to his speed up and down the right flank which was reminiscent of Cafuringa, a Brazilian forward from the 1970s...
. However, replays showed Adriano was in an offside position when he touched the ball into the net."
Spain vs. France (Second round)
At the 83rd minute, with the score at 1-1, referee Roberto RosettiRoberto Rosetti
Roberto Rosetti is a former Italian football referee. He is fluent in Italian, English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received his FIFA Badge in 2002...
called a foul against Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...
's Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol
Carles Puyol i Saforcada is a Spanish footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team.Mainly a central defender, he can also play on either flank, especially as a right back...
. France
France national football team
The France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation , the governing body of football in France, and competes as a member of UEFA, which encompasses the countries of Europe...
's Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry is a French professional footballer who plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and...
went down holding his face, although Puyol appeared to hit him in the chest. Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira is a retired French footballer of Senegalese descent who is the Football Development Executive at Manchester City....
scored from the resulting free kick and France won the match 3-1. "For me it wasn't a foul, if anything it was a foul by (Henry) because he came from behind and collided with me," Puyol said, "but referees can get things wrong." Spain coach Luis Aragonés
Luis Aragonés
José Luis Aragonés Suárez , usually referred to as Luis Aragonés and sometimes simply as Luis, is a former Spanish footballer and national coach....
also called the foul "non-existent". But Henry said, "Puyol came up to me afterwards and apologised so how is that cheating?" He also told reporters, "Look at the replay, their left-back was going to take the ball and Puyol came across me and blocked me. If that's basketball that's a good block, but we're not playing basketball. In my head I'm not a guy who does go down or cheats." Television announcer and former Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
international Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit
OON is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the captain of the Netherlands national team that was victorious at Euro 88 and was also a member of the squad for the 1990 World Cup. He was named the European Footballer of the...
said of the play, "I am a little bit disappointed. It shows that cheating works."
Italy vs. France (Final)
Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring in the 7th minute by converting a controversial penalty spot kick, which glanced off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal. The penalty was awarded after Florent MaloudaFlorent Malouda
Florent Johan Malouda is a French footballer who plays as a left winger for Chelsea and the French national team.-Châteauroux:A street footballer in his teen years, Malouda gradually developed into an interesting, new football talent, able to penetrate defenses with his technical skills and...
went down inside the Italian penalty area under a challenge from Italian defender Marco Materazzi
Marco Materazzi
Marco Materazzi , is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender, and is currently a free agent.At the beginning of his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie B and Serie C, and with Premier League side Everton. He spent two periods with Perugia and signed for...
. The call was somewhat controversial as replays showed Materazzi barely made contact with the Frenchman.http://www.cbc.ca/sports/worldcup2006/storyview.html?/story/sports/national/2006/07/09/france-italy-worldcup.html
As it was put by an Associated Press report posted in the ESPN website "Malouda stumbled -- many might say dived -- in the penalty area and Elizondo immediately signaled a penalty kick." http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373590&cc=5901
Italy then equalized at the 19th minute with a header by Materazzi himself and went on to win the title on penalty shoot out. The controversy surrounding the penalty was however overshadowed by the discussion surrounding Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane is a retired French footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane was a leading figure of a generation of French players that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship...
's sending off in extra-time for headbutting an Italian player in the chest.
Zidane was sent off after the restart of the match, contrary to FIFA Laws of the Game, Law 5: The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided that he has not restarted play or terminated the match'.'
Officiating less-prominent teams, general concern
Match referees have faced accusations of bias from the media and team representatives for allegedly favouring larger and better-established teams at the finals, at the expense of less established football nations.After the Australian team was knocked out of the tournament as a result of a controversial penalty given against defender Lucas Neill
Lucas Neill
Lucas Edward Neill is an Australian Soccer player who currently plays for UAE Pro-League club Al Jazira. He is a full back. Neill had spent almost 15 years of his career playing in England. He represented Australia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, the 2010 World Cup in South...
in their Second round match against Italy, Australian assistant coach Graham Arnold
Graham Arnold
Graham James Arnold is a former coach of the Australian national football team. He was appointed to work as an assistant to Frank Farina in 2000. The two replaced Raul Blanco, who was the interim coach in charge after Terry Venables decided not to renew his contract with Soccer Australia after...
was quoted as saying, "We are a small footballing nation that gets no favours. All we ask for is a fair go, and I don't think we received it over the four games.". Likewise, after going down to Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
in their second round match, Ghana
Ghana national football team
The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the Black Stars, is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association...
's head coach Ratomir Dujković
Ratomir Dujkovic
Ratomir Dujković is a Serbian football manager and a former player.-Playing career:...
stated that "the referee might as well have been wearing a yellow shirt under his own".
One basis for these claims has been the irregular balance of fouls sanctioned by referees between traditional powers and emerging teams. As of June 27, the top eight seeded teams
2006 FIFA World Cup seeding
To calculate the seeding for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, FIFA used the FIFA World Rankings in combination with performances of national teams in the two previous World Cups....
have a combined net surplus of 93 more fouls sustained than committed with an average of 3.1 per match, according to statistics published on FIFA's website.
On average, as of 27 June, the team with the highest fouls count of the finals have been debutants; Ghana
Ghana national football team
The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the Black Stars, is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association...
, with a 1.95 ratio between fouls committed and fouls sustained, Tunisia
Tunisia national football team
The Tunisia national football team , nicknamed Les Aigles de Carthage , is the national team of Tunisia and is controlled by the Fédération Tunisienne de Football. They have qualified for four FIFA World Cups, the first one in 1978, but have yet to make it out of the first round...
with a ratio of 1.76 fouls committed/sustained, and Australia
Australia national football (soccer) team
The Australia national association football team represents Australia in international association football competitions. Its official nickname is the "Socceroos"...
with a 1.75 ratio.
By contrast, the teams with fewer fouls committed have been traditional powerhouses Italy
Italy national football team
The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...
, Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
and Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...
- with respective averages of 0.66, 0.67 and 0.75 in fouls committed/sustained ratios.
On the other hand the teams that committed the least fouls (less than 50 in three games) were Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, South Korea, Paraguay, Poland and Japan (the latter with just 38 fouls). Also, of the 5 teams most judged wrongly offside, four were in "Pot A", which therefore seeds them in the top 8
2006 FIFA World Cup seeding
To calculate the seeding for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, FIFA used the FIFA World Rankings in combination with performances of national teams in the two previous World Cups....
(Italy, Argentina, France and Brazil) and the other emerging European side Ukraine. Of the teams that were judged to be in an offside position incorrectly on no occasion in the first three games, only one (Mexico) was seeded into "Pot A".
While these statistics could be used to support claims of bias, they could also indicate that some teams are rougher and that the stronger teams are more disciplined, and their success is due to their not committing excessive fouls. Additionally it should be considered that a team in possession is more likely to sustain a foul than a defending team, and therefore the successful teams are likely to sustain more fouls.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter
Joseph S. Blatter , commonly known as Sepp Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA . He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007, and 2011...
told before the tournament that referees should protect big star players: "What has been clearly said to referees is ‘please protect the physical integrity of the players’, and that means protecting the big stars"
Player and referee communication, Australia vs. Brazil (Group stage)
According to Football Federation Australia (FFA) officials, the referee Markus MerkMarkus Merk
Dr. Markus Merk is a former top-level German football referee. He is a six-time winner of the German Referee of the Year Award and the record holder in games refereed in the Bundesliga. In 2005, Merk was awarded the German Bundesverdienstkreuz in recognition of his service to football and his...
refused to talk to Australian captain Mark Viduka
Mark Viduka
Mark Anthony Viduka is a former Australian soccer player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australian national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last 16.-Melbourne Croatia:...
when approached during the game to explain certain refereeing decisions. Although many fans believed this to be irregular, the FIFA Laws of the Game clearly state: "The captain of a team has no special status or privileges under the Laws of the Game but he has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of his team." - (Additional Instructions for the Referee)
This was part of the evidence used by the FFA to help defend Harry Kewell's after-match argument with Merk, which (pending a FIFA enquiry) threatened his participation in Australia's following match against Croatia. The enquiry later cleared the player of any wrongdoing, due to inconsistent reports between the officials, "despite photographs and television replays showing Kewell striding purposefully towards Merk, mouthing off and pointing his finger at him - the sort of anti-referee histrionics FIFA usually frowns heavily upon."
Record card tally, Portugal vs. Netherlands (Second round)
This second round game created some controversy due to the record number of bookings given by referee Valentin IvanovValentin Valentinovich Ivanov
Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov is a Russian international football referee and a former player. The son of two Olympic champions of 1956, Valentin Ivanov and Lidiya Ivanova, he lives in Moscow where he works as a teacher....
. He gave a total of 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards. On this occasion, FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
president Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter
Joseph S. Blatter , commonly known as Sepp Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA . He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007, and 2011...
publicly criticised his performance.
In an interview to Russian press, Ivanov stated that he "had been warned of the Portuguese harsh tactics but was surprised that the Dutch started it". This sentence generated an official protest of the Portuguese federation with FIFA.
Blue background for Argentine shooters, Germany vs. Argentina (Quarter final)
German goalkeeper Jens LehmannJens Lehmann
Jens Gerhard Lehmann is a German former football goalkeeper. He was voted UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year for the 1996–97 and 2005–06 seasons, and he has been selected for three World Cup squads. He was a member of Arsenal's Invincibles, playing every match of their famous unbeaten title winning...
wore a sky blue shirt during the penalty shoot-outs. An advertisement placed directly behind the goal had white characters on sky blue background, and three people standing behind it were also dressed in sky blue and white shirts. Argentine fans claim that this was intentionally made to distract Argentine players at the penalty kicks.
Defence of referees
On summing up the progress of the tournament at the conclusion of the group stage, Sepp BlatterSepp Blatter
Joseph S. Blatter , commonly known as Sepp Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA . He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007, and 2011...
spoke in defence of FIFA's officiating in the tournament, stating "... referees are only human, and they make mistakes. We have to reduce the number of mistakes, but we're all still searching in vain for perfection." Despite Blatter's statement, both Ivanov and Poll, referees at the center of the two largest controversies, were not included on the twelve-team list of officials selected by FIFA to referee the final eight matches of the competition.
Togo
Following months of confusion over who would be managing the African debutants Togo, Otto PfisterOtto Pfister
Otto Pfister is a German football manager, and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa's Manager of the Year in 1992. He has been to four African Cup of Nations competitions with Upper Volta , Zaire, Cameroon and Ghana) and reached the African Cup of Nations final twice,...
was only confirmed in the job the day before their opening match against South Korea. Pfister had previously resigned as coach of the team. The players threatened to boycott the final group match against France due to pay disputes.
Fair-play agreements
FIFA and the world cup organization have every team member and coach sign a "Fair-play agreement".Portugal v Netherlands (Second round)
PortugalPortugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...
had possession of the ball when the game was interrupted by the referee to assist injured Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Alberto Silveira de Carvalho OIH , is a footballer who plays as a centre back for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid.Carvalho was born in Amarante where he played for the local team, Amarante Futebol Clube. By his great performance as a youngster, he was spotted by the Portuguese powerhouse,...
. Under fair play conduct, when the game re-started, the Netherlands
Netherlands national football team
The Netherlands National Football Team represents the Netherlands in association football and is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association , the governing body for football in the Netherlands...
should have either not disputed the ball release or taken the ball without challenge and returned it to Portugal, however teams are not bound by the "Fair Play Agreement" signed before the tournament and no penalty can arise from such a situation. Instead, Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga kept possession, and was subsequently tackled from behind by Deco
Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, OIH , commonly known as Deco, is a Brazilian-born Portuguese professional footballer who currently plays for Fluminense....
, who received a yellow card. He received a second yellow card in the 78th minute for time wasting and was sent off, earning a ban for the quarter-final match against England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
.
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari , ComIH , also known as Felipão in Brazil and Phil Scolari in the United Kingdom, is a World Cup-winning Brazilian football manager. He is currently the manager of Palmeiras. He served as the manager of the Portuguese national team from July 12, 2003 to June 30, 2008...
accused Dutch coach Marco van Basten of encouraging his players to play on, and said, "The Portuguese Football Federation, on the basis of the FIFA Fair Play documents, will put in a request to overturn the card for Deco." However, Portugal did not officially file the appeal, and FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler told the press, "There was a phone call from Portugal and they were clearly told 'forget it'."
Hooliganism
While the German PoliceGerman Federal Police
The Bundespolizei is a uniformed federal police force in Germany. It is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior...
expressed satisfaction in their ability to contain and deal with hooliganism
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
, speculation was rife that a number of potential flashpoints existed which could cause widespread public disorder. With a number of routes into the country, amongst them the open land borders which are a consequence of the Schengen agreement
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
, apprehension of known troublemakers and organisers of disturbances looked to be a very real problem. However, during the World Cup, Germany suspended its rules granting passport-free travel to EU citizens. As an illustration of this, on 8 June, German police apprehended 9 English hooligans attempting to enter the country via the Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
border. Britain has a particularly stringent policy of restricting foreign travel of known football hooligans during periods where the England team are involved. 3,500 banning orders were served, and by 8 June all but 150 had surrendered their passports. On 9 June Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
in the UK reported that although there had been no violence, England fans in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
had been kicking footballs at the windows of the city's 600 year old Römer
Römer (Frankfurt am Main)
The Römer is a medieval building in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, one of the city's most important landmarks. It has been the city hall or Rathaus for 600 years. The Römer merchant family sold it together with a second building, the Goldener Schwan , to the city council on March 11, 1405 and it was...
city hall building, although local police decided not to take action over this minor incident and the staff at the Mayor's office apparently took the attempted vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
in good humour. On the day of England's first match against Paraguay two England fans were arrested for having swastikas and SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
insignia painted on their bodies. The two were flown back to England to appear in court; one was found guilty and banned from attending football matches until 2008, while the other was not banned as the symbol (the double-sig rune
Sig Rune
Sig is the name given by Guido von List for the Sigel or s rune of the Armanen Futharkh, and is also used by Karl Maria Wiligut for his runes.-Nazism:...
of the SS) was painted on his back, and he may not have been able to see it or known what it was. The court heard that the fan found guilty also had a letter J on his arm, believed to be a slight to Jews, but claimed not to know its meaning.
There was also concern over hooligans among the 300,000 Polish fans who travelled to Germany for the tournament. This supposition was borne out as clashes between rival groups of supporters culminated in the arrest of 429 prior to and in the wake of the game between Germany and Poland in Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
.
On 14 June, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
news in the UK reported that up to that date 7 England fans had been arrested, one for a "serious offence".
Racism
It was claimed that "foreign-looking" people should not visit some areas in the former East Germany, after one newspaper reported that neo-Nazi skinheadsNazi-Skinheads
White power skinheads are a white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations....
were planning violence against foreigners. Germany contains a small but vocal neo-Nazi minority who have engaged in violent attacks against the country's immigrants, as well as foreign visitors, since the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and subsequent German reunification. According to German police, neo-Nazi hate crime was on the rise and had increased significantly over the preceding few months.
Two human rights organizations, the Africa Council, based in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and the International League of Human Rights advised black and Asian fans to avoid certain areas of eastern Germany during the World Cup.
The far-right NPD
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
, an organisation which the German government unsuccessfully tried to ban in 2001, had planned to march through Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
on 10 June, a day after Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
met Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in the city's new purpose-built stadium. This march had first been banned by the German police, but later permitted by the Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court. Other far-right marches were planned for Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Herne during the competition, although these were subsequently banned.
FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
announced that at the World Cup, teams could have points deducted for racist remarks by players and officials. A "Football Against Racism" logo covered each field's center circle until kickoff at all World Cup matches. Prior to every quarter-final match, the captains read a "declaration against racism" over the PA system.
The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
launched a campaign against racism before the World Cup. Friso Roscam Abbing, spokesman for the EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner indicated that the campaign also targeted prostitution rings and human trafficking.
Trafficking of women
Some international human rights groups (like the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of EuropeParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
(PACE), the Nordic Council
Nordic Council
The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
) expressed concern that there would be an increase in the trafficking of women up to and during the World Cup. PACE and Amnesty claimed that 30,000 women and girls might become the subject of slavery for the purposes of forced prostitution during the World Cup. They called upon the German authorities to monitor sex venues during the World Cup and provide support for the victims of trafficking.
According to German police, there was no noticeable increase in forced prostitution during the World Cup. While there was a significant influx of (legal and illegal) prostitutes to Germany before the World Cup, most of those were reported to have left within the first two weeks. Police officials from several cities quoted prostitutes saying that business actually decreased.
Computer cracking
FIFA's ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
provider Avaya
Avaya
Avaya Inc. is a privately held computer networking, information technology and telecommunications company that is a global provider of business communications systems. The international head quarters is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States...
indicated that it expected, and was prepared for, the denial-of-service attack
Denial-of-service attack
A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...
s which were unsuccessfully launched at the IT network for the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
. No successful attacks were launched on the German World Cup system.