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FIFA Considers a Second Referee

Many people, including several FIFA officials, come in for criticism at the World Cup in Germany. They claim that there were too many high-profile incidents that took the attention from the match itself, with the match between Netherlands and Portugal is the memorable one. FIFA President Sepp Blatter said that he considers adding another referee to the game, and that soccer will be played with two referees on the field.

The pace of the game is such that one referee is not enough at times, and action should be taken to prevent events such as the ones that occurred in Germany 2006. There`s a growing feeling that matches are decided not by the skill of the teams, but by the fairness of the referees, and that situation must not exist.

"At the beginning there was a reluctance to consider the system,` said Blatter. "Then we had tests conducted in Malaysia and Sao Paulo, Brazil, with encouraging results, but an unsatisfactory reaction in Norway and Italy. Now we are facing a situation in the game where the pace is such that we must ask if there should be a further experiment. We observe the situation in ice hockey, for instance, with two referees and two assistants on a much smaller arena and they have no [personality] clashes with the players because they know the game."