Valentin Ivanov (footballer Born 1961) - 2006 World Cup

2006 World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was Ivanov's last major international tournament, as he reached the mandatory retirement age of 45 for FIFA referees on July 4. In a second-round match between Portugal and the Netherlands, Ivanov issued 16 yellow cards and four red cards. The 16 cautions matched the World Cup record set in 2002 by Spanish referee Antonio López Nieto, while the four dismissals (all on the respective players' second yellow cards) set a new World Cup record. Costinha and Deco was sent off for Portugal, while it was Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the Dutch. The Netherlands were cautioned seven times, with two players given red cards following the second yellow. Portugal saw 9 yellow cards (World Cup record for one team), and two dismissals following the second yellow as well. FIFA president Sepp Blatter later suggested that Ivanov should have given himself a yellow card for his poor performance during the match. Sepp Blatter regretted these words and promised to officially apologise.

Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, the president of the German Football Association also defended Ivanov, saying that Ivanov was just enforcing the rules. He noted that the match did not lack a sense of discretion on the part of the referee, but rather the teams did not follow the rules of the game. He also pointed out that FIFA gave the order to the referees to adhere to the rules firmly as far as tackling, holding jerseys and time wasting are concerned, and that this was made perfectly clear to all the teams.