By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – FIFA have forcefully denied suggestions that referees have been deliberately ordered not to hand out red and yellow cards at the World Cup in order to provide a more entertaining spectacle.
Following Brazil’s foul-ridden quarter-final clash with Colombia, during which Neymar suffered a tournament-ending back injury, Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo faced heavy criticism for allowing so many challenges to go unpunished.
The mass circulation German newspaper Bild later reported that FIFA referees chief Massimo Busacca had told officials to limit cards in order to improve entertainment value in what has been one of the most spectacular finals on record.
This provoked an angry response from FIFA communications chief Walter De Gregorio who usually leaves FIFA’s daily briefings to his deputy but made a specific point of addressing reporters.
“(The story was) that there is a secret plan from FIFA telling the referees not to sanction with yellow or red cards in order to have more entertainment and better tv ratings,” De Gregorio said. “In other words that FIFA is risking and tolerating that players like Neymar and others are injured. These are serious allegations and this is just unacceptable.”
The number of yellow cards during the course of the tournament averages 2.8 per match compared to 3.8 in 2010 and 4.8 in 2006. De Gregorio, who rarely speaks without the full authority of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, added: “You can question every decision of every referee. That’s part of the game and something we have to accept and the referees accept.
“What we cannot accept is to question the decision on an ethical level saying this is a hidden plan from FIFA. We can go through all 60 games and you will never find a referee who does not make mistakes. But to say he was asked to do this is the difference. My point is that to say that behind this is a master plan to make the game more dynamic, more spectacular – this is something we cannot accept.
“This goes to the core business because protecting the core actors, the players, is the most important thing we have to do at FIFA . . . The players are the main actors and if Neymar is not playing it’s not good for us too. We would love to see him playing so how can you say this is deliberately made by FIFA to improve the entertainment?”
Meanwhile, FIFA disciplinary chiefs have ignored the growing clamour in Brazil for Colombian defender Juan Camilo Zuniga to face retroactive punishment for the challenge that ended Neymar’s tournament. In a statement the committee said it “deeply regrets the incident and the serious consequences on Neymar’s health” but said Zuniga could not be punished because the incident in Friday’s controversial quarter-final had been seen by the match officials at the time. Disciplinary action can only be applied retroactively in cases of mistaken identity where a referee shows a yellow or red card to the wrong player.
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