Edited by Shiv Gidumal and Harrison Kalt
This series of pages aims to inform the casual football fan about the good, the not-so-good, the bad and the ugly of World Cup refereeing.
Do professional referees really make bad errors?
Yes, but not often.
Unfortunately, these types of errors have the potential to haunt the referee and his or her career. With the media and angry fans, the best referees aim to not have their names in the papers: it almost always means they didn’t do a stellar job. Exciting to ponder what mistakes will be made this year! To learn about some particularly upsetting refereeing errors from the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, visit the World Cup Errors page.
…. Or is it really an error?
Fans love to accuse referees of conspiracies when the game isn’t going their way. Though in games where the stakes are high, there have been instances of exposed corruption during games involving World Cup referees. To learn more, visit the Referee Conspiracies page.
Return back to the World Cup Referee Page
