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Peter O'Leary (born 3 March 1972) is a New Zealand former Association football referee, previously of Wellington but now is residing in Hamilton. He operated in the Australian A-League and the New Zealand Football Championship, and his other occupation is as a teacher and deputy principal at Te Aroha College.

He currently has the record for controlling the most matches in the FIFA World Club Cup.

Career

He first took up refereeing in 1994. He has officiated in many Oceania Football Confederation tournaments since becoming a FIFA referee in 2003, notably the OFC Nations Cup in 2004, and the Oceania Club Championship in 2006.

In 2007, he was selected to officiate at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada during June and July of that year. He took charge of the Group F game between Nigeria and Costa Rica at the Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, British Columbia, on 1 July. He was then assigned the Group B match between Uruguay and Jordan at the Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, on 4 July. At the English Premiership tie between Aston Villa and Sunderland F.C. as a guest of top English referee Steve Bennett, O’Leary was summoned from the stands to assume Bennett's role on the touchline as 4th official for the second half of the match.

O'Leary officiated at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, as the referee for the fifth place playoff between Adelaide United and Al Ahly and at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, refereeing group games between Italy and Trinidad and Tobago and between Hungary and the United Arab Emirates, along with one game at the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in United Arab Emirates, refereeing TP Mazembe and Pohang Steelers FC.

O'Leary was included on the short list to officiate at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa along with fellow New Zealand referee Michael Hester, both of whom were confirmed in the final 30 officials to take charge at the finals.

O'Leary refereed the 2015 AFC Asian Cup match between Korea Republic and Oman.

O'Leary retired in 2015, after controlling his 64th A-League game.

2014 World Cup

On 19 June 2014, he was announced as the referee for the group match between Nigeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The match was won by Nigeria 1–0 after a goal by Edin Džeko of Bosnia-Herzegovina was disallowed when he was ruled offside by the assistant referee. Peter O’Leary, later admitted that Džeko's goal was disallowed in error. He was the fourth official for the match between France and Honduras.

A-League Matches

• 2005/2006 Season: 11 Matches (Including: 1 Pre-season)
• 2006/2007 Season: 10 Matches (Including: 3 Pre-season)
• 2007/2008 Season: 6 Matches (Including: 1 Pre-Season)
• 2008/2009 Season: 10 Matches (Including: 1 Pre-season)
• 2009/2010 Season: 5 Matches (Including: 1 Pre-season)
• 2010/2011 Season: 9 Matches
• 2011/2012 Season: 2 Matches
• 2012/2013 Season: 5 Matches
• 2013/2014 Season: 6 Matches
• 2014/2015 Season: 7 Matches

References

1. Birthdate confirmation Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine and biography: NZFC website.
2. ^ Tapaleao, Vaimoana (21 June 2014). "All eyes on Kiwi ref at World Cup". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
3. Steven Holloway and Seamus Marten (15 April 2021). "Episode #43 - Peter O'Leary". www.betweentwobeerspodcast.com/ (Podcast). Between Two Beers. Event occurs at 0:37. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
4. Harray, Neil. "Deputy Principal announcement". Te Aroha College. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
5. Biography Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine detailing OFC Tournaments: A-League website.
6. Selection for 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine: NZSoccer website.
7. Nigeria v. Costa Rica, FIFA U-20 World Cup, 2007: FIFA.com website.
8. Uruguay v. Jordan, FIFA U-20 World Cup, 2007: FIFA.com website.
9. "Kiwi ref tastes premier league action". Stuff. 29 September 2008.
10. "Denilson fires Steelers into semis". FIFA.com. 13 December 2009. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014.
11. In 2013 O'Leary was selected to officiate in the 2013 ASB Premiership Grand Final between Waitakere United and Auckland City. "Refs O'Leary and Hester on FIFA World Cup short list". Oceania Football Confederation. 25 October 2008. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008.
12. "NZ referees selected for football World Cup". NZPA. 6 February 2010.
13. AAP (10 January 2015). "Korea Republic edges past Oman in opener". theworldgame.sbs.com.au. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
14. "Kiwi Peter O'Leary retires from refereeing". stuff.co.nz. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
15. "Referee designations for matches 27–29". FIFA. 19 June 2014. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014.
16. Hannah Duncan (21 June 2014). "World Cup 2014: More controversy at World Cup as Edin Dzeko is wrongly denied goal as Bosnia crash out against Nigeria | Metro News". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
17. Chris Greenberg (21 June 2014). "Bosnia-Herzegovina Robbed of Goal By Offside Call in Loss To Nigeria, Eliminated at World Cup". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
18. Peter Staunton (22 June 2014). "Dzeko: 'Shameful' referee should be sent home after Bosnia-Herzegovina loss". goal.com. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
19. Matthew Theunissen (9 November 2014). "Death threat ref's international return". nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
20. "France and Honduras kick off without singing national anthems at World Cup". Fox News. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

• 1972 births
• Living people
• New Zealand association football referees
• A-League Men referees
• People from Wellington City
• New Zealand schoolteachers
• Science teachers
• 2010 FIFA World Cup referees
• Olympic football referees
• Football referees at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• 2014 FIFA World Cup referees
• AFC Asian Cup referees