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Horacio Marcelo Elizondo (born November 4 ,1963, in Quilmes) is an Argentine international football referee.

Background

Elizondo completed studies in physical education, and started refereeing after finishing the AFA course. His debut in the Argentine first division was in the Deportivo Español vs. Belgrano de Córdoba match in 1992. He was named international in 1994, and directed his first international match on October 9 1994 between Ecuador and Colombia for the 1998 World Cup qualifications.

2006 FIFA World Cup

He was appointed to represent Argentina in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, together with country fellow assistants Darío García and Rodolfo Otero, to referee the opening game of the tournament between Germany and Costa Rica.

In his following match, the Czech Republic vs. Ghana game, he awarded Ghana a penalty for a challenge by Tomáš Ujfaluši, on Matthew Amoah. However, whilst he was sending off the Czech defender, Gyan (the player to take the penalty kick) prematurely took the penalty without waiting for the referee. Elizondo booked the Ghanan forward.

Switzerland vs. South Korea

Elizondo was also the referee in the Switzerland vs. Korea game. He awarded the Swiss a controversial goal overruling Rodolfo Otero's raised offside flag. Several players, including two defenders who were following Alexander Frei stopped playing when they saw the flag, expecting it to be accompanied by the referee's whistle. However no whistle was blown that would have signaled halt in the game. The ball was put into the path of Alexander Frei after being hit by Lee Ho's foot. According to some commentators and media, Lee Ho's action was not a mere deflection but an intentional move, what would make the offside void, supporting Elizondo's decision. However, the official FIFA rules do indicate that the offside decision should have been given, if Lee Ho's actions were adjudged to have been an accidental deflection. Korean players and staff protested against the decisions by the referee, and Korea's coach Dick Advocaat was livid to the point that he had to be cautioned twice by the referee. A few days later, though, Advocaat relented and agreed that the decision to allow Switzerland's second goal was correct. Elizondo's decisions have caused anger among Koreans, many of whom sent e-mails of protest to the official FIFA website. FIFA decided to take the strong step of blocking Korean Internet access to its website due to the too many protest e-mails from Korea. FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said "FIFA's new media department detected this organized attack coming from Korea and, basically, had to block the messages from Korea to fifa.com to protect the Web site". In addition, many Koreans have left negative comments on the website of the Swiss embassy in Korea, and one man has been arrested for threatening to bomb the Swiss embassy in Seoul.

England vs. Portugal

Elizondo was the referee in the England vs. Portugal quarter-final, which Portugal won 3-1 after penalties. In the 62nd minute, Elizondo sent off England's Wayne Rooney after he appeared to stamp on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho and then pushed Cristiano Ronaldo after the whistle had been blown. Elizondo later confirmed that it was the kick on Carvalho that led to the red card. Other than Rooney, Elizondo booked four players: Carvalho, Petit, Owen Hargreaves and John Terry. Wayne Rooney said he was “gobsmacked” by the decision and believes that the red card was unjustified, saying that he had been trying to keep his balance and was not aware of Carvalho. Rooney also said he should have received a free kick for numerous fouls that he thought were committed on him during the same incident, the English Football Association also support this view. Outside England, Elizondo and Rooney's red card has not been an issue. Articles in Scandinavian and German papers after the game put the blame on Rooney, agreeing with the referee. England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson acknowledged Rooney's statement but accepted Elizondo's decision, saying "I went to the referee to speak and he was 100 percent sure it was a red card. He told me he hit the other player and where he was hit so I can't complain about that". FIFA has requested an explanation from Rooney regarding his conduct during the game; this is standard practice when the referee reports violent conduct. Rooney is in danger of missing the first matches of the qualification to Euro 2008. Later, FIFA president Sepp Blatter also made it clear that he supported Elizondo's decision .

World Cup Final

It has been announced that Elizondo will be the referee for the Final of the tournament, between France and Italy. .This means Elizondo becomes the first referee in history to take charge of the first and last match at a FIFA World Cup finals

Other Competitions

Among the several international competitions in which he participated are the Copa América of 1997 and 1999), the U-17 World Cup of 1997 and 2005, the U-20 World Youth Championships of 2003 and 2005, the Olympic Games of 2004, and the FIFA Club World Championship of 2000. In the latter, he showed a red card to David Beckham in the tie between Manchester United and Necaxa.

He also refereed in the final matches of the 2002 and 2005 Copa Libertadores de América. In the 2005 tournament the two Brazilian finalist teams São Paulo FC and Atlético Paranaense lobbied Conmebol to have Elizondo as the main referee.

In the annual world referee ranking of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Elizondo was positioned 5th in 2001, and 12th in 2005.

Statistics

Event	Games
Copa Libertadores 2006	2	9	0	2
CONMEBOL 2006 WC qualifiers	9	28	0	1
World Cup 2006	3	18	0	2
Total	13	54	0	5

References

1. FIFA - 'Horacio Elizondo: “Referees need to be clinical'". Last accessed on June 1 2006.
2. Prensa Latina - "Elizondo representará al arbitraje argentino". Last accessed on June 1 2006.
3. CZECH REPUBLIC 0-2 GHANA
4. "Suiza venció a Corea del Sur y se clasificó" - Clarín Template:Es icon
5. "Switzerland 2 South Korea 0" - Professional Footballers Association
6. Gaining advantage - Offside Offence - Page 12
7. "World-South Korea take credit after controversial exit" - Reuters
8. "FIFA blocks e-mails from South Korea". Associated Press. 2006-06-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. S. Korean man booked for threatening to blow up Swiss Embassy
10. "England 0-0 Portugal". BBC. 2006-07-01. Retrieved 2006-07-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Simon Fudge (2006-07-04). "Elizondo clears Ronaldo". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. ^ "Rooney insists he didn't deserve red card". Fox Sports. 2006-07-02. Retrieved 2006-07-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "foxsportsrooney" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
13. "FA respond over Rooney red card". Fox Sports. 2006-08-04. Retrieved 2006-08-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. "Sven: Don't kill off Rooney". Sky sports. 2006-07-02. Retrieved 2006-07-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. "Blatter in support of Rooney ref". BBC. 2006-07-04. Retrieved 2006-07-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "Elizondo chosen as Cup final ref". BBC. 2006-07-06. Retrieved 2006-07-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. CONMEBOL - "Horacio Elizondo: 'Es vital para el réferi conocer bien a sus colaboradores'". Last accessed on June 1 2006.
18. BBC news - "Beckham off in Man Utd epic". Last accessed on June 1 2006.
19. RSSSF - "IFFHS' World's Best Referee of the Year 1987-2004". Last accessed on June 1 2006.
20. IFFHS - "The World's best Referee 2005". Last accessed on June 1 2006.

External links

• Profile on ratetheref.net

• Football (soccer) referees
• 1963 births
• Living people
• Argentine football referees
• People from Buenos Aires Province
• FIFA World Cup 2006 referees