There are some arbitration errors that have not been forgotten from the memory of football history despite the passage of decades, especially the mistakes that occurred in the World Cup tournaments and awarded the World Cup title to some teams, including Italy, England and Argentina.

In a report published by "Sport League", the writer Papajid Adionmi reviews a number of the most prominent arbitration errors in the history of the World Cup, from the famous hand of Maradona to England's incorrect goal against Germany, who crowned the English with the only World Cup in their history.

Gifts for the owners of the land

It is no secret that hosting the World Cup gives you an advantage over the rest of the teams, among the 8 champions in the competition, 6 teams won the cup on their home soil, but the embarrassing question remains: Does this feature include the bias of the referees towards the landowner as well?

In the 2002 World Cup, South Korea organized the World Cup on its home soil with Japan and achieved a historic achievement by winning fourth place, but this achievement needed some help from the referees, according to the report.

According to the writer, the two matches with South Korea against Italy and Spain witnessed one of the biggest arbitration scandals in the history of the World Cup, in the round of 16, Italy lost due to the decisions of the Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno, who awarded a penalty kick to the Koreans and canceled the golden goal scored by Damiano Tommasi, and the expulsion of Francesco Totti.

In the quarter-finals, Spain suffered due to the decisions of Egyptian referee Gamal Al-Ghandour, who canceled two goals, one of which was a golden goal scored by Fernando Morientes.

During the penalty shootout, the referee should have returned the penalty kick that Joaquin took after the Korean goalkeeper walked away from the goal line before the shot, but the referee made no decision and the confrontation ended with South Korea qualifying for the semi-finals.

Jamal Al-Ghandour talks about the match between Spain and South Korea at the 2002 World Cup ... and if there were #VAR, it would have changed? # ONTime_Sports pic.twitter.com/Io0c8ylffL

- OnTime Sports (@ONTimeSports) December 19, 2020

Despite the passage of more than 18 years since the match, the Spanish media holds the Egyptian international referee responsible for their national team’s exit from the 2002 World Cup final in South Korea and Japan, where the "Matador" lost at the time by penalties 3-5 to the Korean national team, the host.

The accusations continued to haunt Al-Ghandour and harass him until he received an invitation from the "Movies Star" channel in 2018, and he said that he agreed to go on the condition that one of the experts in Spanish arbitration be brought to conduct a debate in which the arbitration cases that aroused the discontent of the public and the Spanish media to clear his name.

The Spanish captain objects to Al-Ghandour after canceling the controversial goal (Reuters)

And so that we know the seriousness of the accusations, it came to the point where the Spanish newspaper "Marca" accused him in May 2015 of corruption and that he managed the Matador match with South Korea on the instructions of FIFA's vice president at the time, Trinidadian Jack Warner, who was sacked from his post. Accused of corruption in several incidents, including this match.

In September 2016, the same newspaper issued a ranking of the 10 worst referees in the world and placed Al-Ghandour at the top of the list because of that incident, accusing him of neglecting to take any decision regarding many of the mistakes made by the Korean team, and he canceled what they considered a correct goal for Fernando Morientes for the reason that the ball crossed the line. Before it reaches the attacker.

The truth is that Al-Ghandour made some mistakes in this match, but he is not the first responsible for canceling this goal, but canceled it based on the banner of the second assistant referee who implicated him in an incorrect decision that cost the Spaniards to exit from the World Cup.

Al-Ghandour called on the Spanish press and masses to stop attacking him and hold him responsible for losing their national team due to his arbitration decisions, in a dialogue with "Marca" also before the Matador match with Russia in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Russia.

Al-Ghandour confirmed to the newspaper that he is ready to apologize for the mistake that he did not commit, stressing that the second assistant referee was the one who indicated that the ball crossed the line and canceled the Spanish goal.

So that we know the dimensions of this crisis, it caused the overthrow of all the members of the FIFA Referees Committee and a new committee was formed headed by the then President of the Spanish Federation Angel Maria Villar, who appointed Jose Maria Garcia as Director of FIFA Arbitration to form an era of Spanish domination of global arbitration that lasted until the 2010 World Cup.

England's Fantasy Goal

The final match of the 1966 World Cup between England and West Germany at Wembley Stadium was full of excitement, and required additional time after the two teams tied in normal time with two goals to the same.

In the 11th minute of the first extra half, Geoff Hirst struck the ball towards the goal, but it hit the crossbar and rebounded on the goal line before it was dispersed by the German defense.

After a signal from the assistant, the Swiss referee, Gottfried Denst, decided to count the goal in favor of England, even though the ball did not cross the goal line, which sparked a wave of anger in the ranks of the German national team.

Thus, the England national team won the title for the first time after adding a fourth goal and the confrontation ended 4-2.

So far, the Germans have not forgotten this mistake, which occurred on English soil and caused the title to go to England for the first and last time in its history.

Of course, had there been goal-line technology at the time or video-assisted referee (VAR) technology, the Germans would have been the closest to the title and England would not have won it.

Maradona's hand

And as Dan condemns, in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup against England, Diego Maradona scored two goals that cannot be forgotten, one of which was the most beautiful in the history of the World Cup, and the second most controversial in the history of the competition.

Neither team was able to score in the first half, and at the start of the second half, Maradona jumped to catch a rebound from English midfielder Steve Hodge, preceded by England goalkeeper Peter Shelton and played the ball into the net on the outside for his left-hand grip to be considered by the referee.

"Maradona's hand"


in the 86th World Cup, specifically in the Cup Final,


England and Argentina. The result is negative until the 51st minute.

So the late jumped and hit the ball with his hand and announced the progress of the Tango team, and minutes later the second was scored

Argentina will crown the World Cup !!

pic.twitter.com/RQ5PfarRju

- Nabil (@Nabulso) December 21, 2020

Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser admitted later that he was not in a good position to watch the shot, and since his assistant did not say anything, he decided to count the goal.

Minutes later, Maradona scored the "Goal of the Century" after surpassing half of England's players, and in the end the Argentine national team won 2-1.

The funny thing is that Maradona was keen to visit Bennacer at his home in Tunisia, embraced him and gave him his signed shirt, as if to thank him for passing the historic goal that paved the way for Argentina to win the 1986 World Cup.

📷 |

Tunisian international referee Ali bin Nasser reviews his memories and pictures with Mardona

Bin Nasser is the referee of the famous match of Argentina and Maradona against England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Mexico 1986 pic.twitter.com/ZCXQ8wc5gD

- Abokr Omar (@ Abokr10) November 27, 2020

Mexico and curse the final price

Since the 1994 World Cup, Mexico has been unable to reach the semi-finals, as the team has been knocked out of the Round of 16 on 7 consecutive times.

In 2010, Mexico faced the star-studded Argentina national team and lost the match after conceding 3 goals in the first half hour.

The match witnessed one of the biggest refereeing errors in the World Cup Finals, as Tevez scored the opening goal from a clear offside that everyone saw except for Italian referee Roberto Rosetti and his assistant, who is controlling offside the most important task.

The funny thing is that the replays of the goal that were shown on the stadium screen showed a scandalous offside and the Mexican team asked Rosetti to look at the screen, but he refused after speaking with his assistants.

This error caused Rosetti - who currently chairs the European Referees Committee - and his crew to be excluded from the tournament, and FIFA decided, at the instruction of the International Referees Committee, to ban replays on the screens of the World Cup stadiums in South Africa.

The funny thing is that Massimo Busacca, who currently manages FIFA refereeing, is also removed from the World Cup in South Africa after committing a serious mistake in one of the matches, and the Swiss referee did not hide his anger at his exclusion until his countryman Joseph Blatter, FIFA president, appointed him director of the referee committee, instead of the Spaniard Garcia, who excluded him.

In 2014, Mexico came close to breaking the knot and reaching the quarter-finals, but was again subjected to arbitration injustice when the referee awarded an incorrect penalty kick to Arien Robben and the Netherlands won 2-1, which prompted FIFA to think of a way to stop these serious mistakes. This was with the video assistant referee (VAR) technology that was applied in the 2018 World Cup, but the errors increased significantly.

Mussolini settles the situation

The second edition of the World Cup was held in 1934 in Fascist Italy, which was ruled by Mussolini.

In fact, Mussolini was not a fan of soccer, but he noted that it had an enormous ability to attract fans, and he used the 1934 World Cup as a propaganda tool and considered that the title should be won at all costs.

In the quarter-finals, Spain played Italy in one of the fiercest matches in history, ending with serious injuries and an exchange of violence.

Because of those events, the match was restarted the next day, and Mussolini took over himself.

Italy beat Spain thanks to a biased referee who canceled two Spanish goals.

To secure the title victory, an Italian umpire was appointed to the semi-final match between Germany and Czechoslovakia so that Italy could take on the weaker opponent.

In the end, Mussolini achieved the desired goal and Italy won the title.

  • A former international ruling