Copa Sudamericana – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

11 August 2015
Oriente Petrolero – Nacional
Referee: Patricio Loustau (ARG, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Ariel Scime (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Lucas Germanotta (ARG)
Fourth Official: Juan Garcia (BOL)
Referee Observer: Hebert Aguilera (BOL)

Universidad Católica – Danubio
Referee: Raul Orosco (BOL)
Assistant Referee 1: Javier Bustillos (BOL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Antelo (BOL)
Fourth Official: Claudio Puga (CHI)
Referee Observer: Pablo Pozo (CHI)

Universidad Católica – La Guaira
Referee: Wilson Lamouroux (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Humberto Clavijo (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Eduardo Diaz (COL)
Fourth Official: Diego Lara (ECU)
Referee Observer: Miguel Erazo (ECU)

Carabobo – Deportes Tolima
Referee: Carlos Orbe (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Vera (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Macias (ECU)
Fourth Official: Mayker Gomez (VEN)
Referee Observer: Bernardo Corujo (VEN)

Universitario – Deportivo Anzoategui
Referee: Ulises Mereles (PAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Caceres (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Cañete (PAR)
Fourth Official: Miguel Santivañez (PER)
Referee Observer: Cesar Mongrut (PER)

12 August 2015
Liga de Loja – Independiente Santa Fe
Referee: Raphael Claus (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Emerson Carvalho (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Vinicio Espinel (ECU)
Referee Observer: Bomer Fierro (ECU)

Santiago Wanderers – Libertad
Referee: Wilton Sampaio (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Rocha (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Fabricio Vilarinho (BRA)
Fourth Official: Eduardo Gamboa (CHI)
Referee Observer: Guido Aros (CHI)

Defensor Sporting – Bolívar
Referee: Julio Quintana (PAR)
Assistant Referee 1: Milciades Saldivar (PAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dario Gaona (PAR)
Fourth Official: Christian Ferreyra (URU)
Referee Observer: Gustavo Lopez (URU)

Olimpia – Huachipato
Referee: Ricardo Marques (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Kleber Gil (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Rodrigo Correa (BRA)
Fourth Official: Carlos Amarilla (PAR)
Referee Observer: Manuel Bernal (PAR)

Atlético Junior – Melgar
Referee: Fernando Falce (URU)
Assistant Referee 1: Gabriel Popovits (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Changala (URU)
Fourth Official: Juan Ponton (COL)
Referee Observer: Otalvaro Polanco (COL)

13 August 2015
León de Huanuco – Emelec
Referee: Roberto Tobar (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcelo Barraza (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Christian Schiemann (CHI)
Fourth Official: Manuel Garay (PER)
Referee Observer: Antonio Arnão (PER)

Juventud Las Piedras – Real Potosí
Referee: Dario Herrera (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Ernesto Uziga (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ivan Nuñez (ARG)
Fourth Official: Jonhatan Fuentes (URU)
Referee Observer: Juan Cardellino (URU)

Nacional – Universidad de Concepción
Referee: Fernando Rapallini (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Diego Bonfa (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Gustavo Rossi (ARG)
Fourth Official: Mario Diaz (PAR)
Referee Observer: Ubaldo Aquino (PAR)

Zamora – Liga de Quito
Referee: Henry Gambetta (PER)
Assistant Referee 1: Raul Lopez (PER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jorge Yupanqui (PER)
Fourth Official: Jose Hoyo (VEN)
Referee Observer: Adrian Gomez (VEN)

Aurora – Sportivo Luqueño
Referee: Jorge Osorio (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Francisco Mondria (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Jose Retamal (CHI)
Fourth Official: Oscar Maldonado (BOL)
Referee Observer: Victor Balderrama (BOL)

Águilas Doradas – Unión Comercio
Referee: Jesus Valenzuela (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Murillo (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Elbis Gomez (VEN)
Fourth Official: Adrian Velez (COL)
Referee Observer: Pablo Montoya (COL)

Webb lands Head of Refereeing role in Saudi Arabia

Former FIFA World Cup final referee Howard Webb was approached by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to oversee the improvement and restructuring of refereeing in the Arab state and he has decided to take up the role.

A statement from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation read: "The Saudi Arabian Football Federation is pleased to announce the signing of international officiating expert, Mr. Howard Webb, as the head of the refereeing department in the Federation. Howard Webb was a professional football referee for 12 years, refereeing almost 300 matches in the English Premier League. He was also a FIFA international referee for 10 years and was appointed to referee in nine major tournaments, including the FIFA World Cups in 2010 and 2014. He has taken charge of many high-profile finals, including the English FA Cup Final in 2009 and English League Cup Final in 2007. In 2010 he achieved the unique honour of being appointed as referee for both the UEFA Champions League Final and FIFA World Cup Final and in doing so became the first referee in the history of the sport to take charge of both finals in the same year. He retired from active refereeing in 2014 to take up the position of Technical Director of PGMOL which oversees refereeing matters in the professional game in England and also became a FIFA referee instructor. As head of the Refereeing Department, Mr. Webb will be in charge of developing, training, evaluating, and appointing referees. In addition, Mr. Webb will be responsible for long and short-term strategies and plans to improve refereeing level in the Kingdom. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation would like to take the opportunity to welcome Mr. Webb and wish him the best of luck in his new journey".

Source: ESPN

CONCACAF Champions League – Group Stage (Matchday 1)

4 August 2015
Queretaro – San Francisco
Referee: Jeffrey Solis (CRC, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Mora (CRC)
Assistant Referee 2: Carlos Fernandez (CRC)
Fourth Official: Hugo Cruz (CRC)

Santos – W Connection
Referee: Mario Escobar (GUA)
Assistant Referee 1: Ronaldo De La Cruz (GUA)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Lemus (GUA)
Fourth Official: Oscar Reyna (GUA)

Club Municipal – Real Salt Lake
Referee: Raul Castro (HON)
Assistant Referee 1: Oscar Velasquez (HON)
Assistant Referee 2: Omar Leiva (HON)
Fourth Official: Melvin Matamoros (HON)

5 August 2015
Arabe Unido – Montego Bay
Referee: Francisco Chacon (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Andres Hernandez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcos Quintero (MEX)
Fourth Official: Oscar Macias (MEX)

Vancouver Whitecaps – Seattle Sounders
Referee: Luis Santander (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Miguel Hernandez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Rangel (MEX)
Fourth Official: Jorge Rojas (MEX)

Club America – Motagua
Referee: Edvin Jurisevic (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Frank Anderson (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Garner (USA)
Fourth Official: Baldomero Toledo (USA)

6 August 2015
LA Galaxy – Central FC
Referee: Christopher Reid (BLZ)
Assistant Referee 1: Ricardo Ake (BLZ)
Assistant Referee 2: Richard Washington (JAM)
Fourth Official: Adrian Skeete (BRB)

Herediano – Isidro Metapan
Referee: Jose Kellys (PAN)
Assistant Referee 1: Gabriel Victoria (PAN)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Baines (PAN)
Fourth Official: Jafeth Perea (PAN)

UEFA Europa League – Third Qualifying Round (Second Leg)

6 August 2015

Rubin Kazan – Sturm Graz
Referee: Liran Liany (ISR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: David Bitton (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Dvir Shimon (ISR)
Fourth Official: Menashe Masiah (ISR)
Referee Observer: Francesco Bianchi (SUI)

Qəbələ İK – Apollon Limassol
Referee: Duarte Gomes (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Pinto (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Venâncio Tomé (POR)
Fourth Official: Bruno Paixão (POR)
Referee Observer: Dragutin Poljak (CRO)

İnter Bakı – Athletic Club
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Bas Van Dongen (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Langkamp (NED)
Fourth Official: Dennis Higler (NED)
Referee Observer: Kostadin Gerginov (BUL)

AC Omonia – Brøndby IF
Referee: Harald Lechner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Maximilian Kolbitsch (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Andreas Heidenreich (AUT)
Fourth Official: Gerhard Grobelnik (AUT)
Referee Observer: Haim Jakov (ISR)

Trabzonspor AŞ – FK Rabotnički
Referee: Steven McLean (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: David McGeachie (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Graeme Stewart (SCO)
Fourth Official: Alan Muir (SCO)
Referee Observer: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)

Odds Ballklubb – IF Elfsborg
Referee: Sergey Ivanov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Viacheslav Semenov (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Valeriy Danchenko (RUS)
Fourth Official: Vladimir Moskalev (RUS)
Referee Observer: Iain Brines (SCO)

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona – Slovan Liberec
Referee: Gediminas Mazeika (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytautas Simkus (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Vytenis Kazlauskas (LTU)
Fourth Official: Saulius Karka (LTU)
Referee Observer: Jens Larsen (DEN)

IFK Göteborg – Belenenses
Referee: Jonathan Lardot (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Karel De Rocker (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Thibaud Nijssen (BEL)
Fourth Official: Denis Vanbecelaere (EL)
Referee Observer: Emil Bozhinovski (MKD)

Strømsgodset Toppfotball – Hajduk Split
Referee: Oliver Drachta (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Roland Brandner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Kuehr (AUT)
Fourth Official: Dieter Muckenhammer (AUT)
Referee Observer: Dani Koren (ISR) 

Rosenborg BK – Debreceni VSC
Referee: Clayton Pisani (MLT)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Camilleri (MLT)
Assistant Referee 2: Edward Spiteri (MLT)
Fourth Official: Philip Farrugia (MLT)
Referee Observer: Yuri Baskakov (RUS)

Vorskla Poltava – MŠK Žilina
Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (AZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Zeynal Zeynalov (AZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Reza Mammadov (AZE)
Fourth Official: Rahim Hasanov (AZE)
Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn (GER)

İstanbul Başakşehir – AZ
Referee: Carlos Clos Gómez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Javier Aguilar Rodríguez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Luis Fernando Martínez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva (ESP)
Referee Observer: Draženko Kovačić (CRO)

Dinamo Minsk – FC Zürich
Referee: Marcin Borski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Rafal Rostkowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Arkadiusz Wójcik (POL)
Fourth Official: Bartosz Frankowski (POL)
Referee Observer: Kaj Natri (FIN)

AEK Larnaca – Girondins de Bordeaux
Referee: Tobias Stieler (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Markus Häcker (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Sascha Thielert (GER)
Fourth Official: Guido Winkmann (GER)
Referee Observer: Sergey Zuev (RUS)

FC Vaduz – FC Thun
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Ovidiu Artene (ROU)
Fourth Official: Andrei Chivulete (ROU)
Referee Observer: Marcel Vanelshocht (BEL)

FC København – FK Jablonec
Referee: Leontios Trattou (CYP)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Soteriou (CYP) 
Assistant Referee 2: Sotiris Viktoros (CYP)
Fourth Official: Vasilis Dimitriou (CYP)
Referee Observer: Ferenc Székely (HUN)

AS Saint Étienne – ASA Târgu Mureș
Referee: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Mullarkey (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Michael Salisbury (ENG)
Fourth Official: Robert Madley (ENG)
Referee Observer: Leslie Irvine (NIR)

Zorya Luhansk – Charleroi SC
Referee: Andris Treimanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Haralds Gudermanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksejs Spasjonnikovs (LVA)
Fourth Official: Vadims Direktorenko (LVA)
Referee Observer: Manuel López Fernández (ESP)

Vitesse – Southampton
Referee: Ilias Spathas (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Lazaros Dimitriadis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Ilias Alexeas (GRE)
Fourth Official: Athanasios Giachos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Tony Asumaa (FIN)

Atromitos – AIK
Referee: Artyom Kuchin (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 1: Yevgeniy Belskiy (KAZ)
Assistant Referee 2: Anatoliy Khodin (KAZ)
Fourth Official: Aleksander Gauzer (KAZ)
Referee Observer: Neale Barry (ENG)

FK Željezničar – Standard de Liège
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Ivo Kolev (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Margaritov (BUL)
Fourth Official: Nikola Popov (BUL)
Referee Observer: Kristinn Jakobsson (ISL)

FC Astra – West Ham United
Referee: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alessandro Giallatini (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Giulio Dobosz (ITA)
Fourth Official: Carmine Russo (ITA)
Referee Observer: Adrian Casha (MLT)

Spartak Trnava – PAOK FC
Referee: Tobias Welz (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Christian Bandurski (GER)
Fourth Official: Benjamin Brand (GER)
Referee Observer: Jon Skjervold (NOR)

Slovan Bratislava – FC Krasnodar
Referee: Sébastien Delferiere (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Yves De Neve (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jo De Weirdt (BEL)
Fourth Official: Christof Virant (BEL)
Referee Observer: Fritz Stuchlik (AUT)

Borussia Dortmund – Wolfsberger AC
Referee: Marius Avram (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Mikols Nagy (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Valentin Avram (ROU)
Fourth Official: Iulian Calin (ROU)
Referee Observer: Paul Allaerts (BEL)

Aberdeen FC – Kairat Almaty
Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Ondrej Pelikan (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Radek Kotik (CZE) 
Fourth Official: Emanuel Marek (CZE)
Referee Observer: Peter Mikkelsen (DEN)

FK Vojvodina – UC Sampdoria
Referee: Pawel Raczkowski (POL)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Michal Obukowicz (POL)
Fourth Official: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL)
Referee Observer: Vitor Melo Pereira (POR)

Legia Warszawa – FK Kukësi
Referee: Tony Chapron (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alexandre Viala (FRA)
Fourth Official: Wilfried Bien (FRA)
Referee Observer: Rusmir Mrković (BIH)

Vitória SC – SCR Altach
Referee: Antony Gautier (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Philippe Jeanne (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Stephan Luzi (FRA)
Fourth Official: Bartolomeu Varela (FRA)
Referee Observer: Christoforos Zografos (GRE)

Copa Libertadores Final 2015 (Second Leg)

5 August 2015

River Plate – Tigres
Referee: Dario Ubriaco (URU, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Mauricio Espinosa (URU)
Assistant Referee 2: Nicolas Taran (URU)
Fourth Official: Andres Cunha (URU)
Referee Observer: Miguel Scime (ARG)

UEFA Champions League – Third Qualifying Round (Second Leg)

4-5 August 2015

Shakhtar Donetsk – Fenerbahce
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Guido Kleve (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Florian Steuer (GER)
Fourth Official: Sascha Stegemann (GER)
Referee Observer: Alan Snoddy (NIR)

Molde FK – Dinamo Zagreb
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Lee Betts (ENG)
Fourth Official: Lee Mason (ENG)
Referee Observer: Tomasz Mikulski (POL)

Apoel Nicosia – Midtylland
Referee: Robert Madden (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas Ross (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Stuart Stevenson (SCO)
Fourth Official: Donald Robertson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Sándor Piller (HUN)

Ajax Amsterdam – Rapid Wien
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Balko (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomaš Somoláni (SVK)
Fourth Official: Mario Vlk (SVK)
Referee Observer: Bo Karlsson (SWE)

AS Monaco – Young Boys
Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Mario Diks (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Hessel Steegstra (NED)
Fourth Official: Kevin Blom (NED)
Referee Observer: Alfredo Trentalange (ITA)

Astana – HJK Helsinki
Referee: Alon Yefet (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Roy Hassan (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Sagy Mazamber (ISR)
Fourth Official: Guy Berger (ISR)
Referee Observer: Robert Sedlacek (AUT)

Qarabag – Celtic
Referee: Martin Strömbergsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Gustavsson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Hallberg (SWE)
Fourth Official: Johan Hamlin (SWE)
Referee Observer: Alain Hamer (LUX)

Sparta Praha – CSKA Moskva
Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Fabio Galloni (ITA)
Fourth Official: Andrea Gervasoni (ITA)
Referee Observer: Jan Fasung (SVK)

FC Basel – Lech Poznan
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Guillaume Débart (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Fourth Official: Fredy Fautrel (FRA)
Referee Observer: Christos Skapoullis (CYP)

Malmö FF – RB Salzburg
Referee: Michael Koukoulakis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Alexandros Gevrenis (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Chrysoula Kourompylia (GRE)
Fourth Official: Charalampos Kalogeropoulos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Stephen Lodge (ENG)

Club Brügge – Panathinaikos
Referee: Stefan Johannesson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mehmet Culum (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Magnus Sjöblom (SWE)
Fourth Official: Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE)
Referee Observer: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

Bate Borisov – Videoton
Referee: Kenn Hansen (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Lars Rix (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: David Andersen (DEN)
Fourth Official: Jakob Kehlet (DEN)
Referee Observer: Jozef Marko (SVK)

Viktoria Plzen – Maccabi Tel Aviv
Referee: Ievgenii Aranovskyi (UKR)
Assistant Referee 1: Oleksandr Voytyuk (UKR)
Assistant Referee 2: Sergii Bekker (UKR)
Fourth Official: Anatolii Zhabchenko (UKR)
Referee Observer: Vladimir Antonov (MDA)

Partizan Belgrad – Steaua Bucuresti
Referee: István Vad (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: Peter Berettyán (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: László Viszokai (HUN)
Fourth Official: Adam Farkas (HUN)
Referee Observer: Luciano Luci (ITA)

Skënderbeu – Milsami
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Tavares (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Paulo Santos (POR)
Fourth Official: Cosme Machado (POR)
Referee Observer: Juan Fernández Marín (ESP)

Additional IFAB guidance on offside

Ahead of the 2015/2016 season, the body responsible for reviewing the laws of football, the International FA Board (IFAB), has issued new guidance to match officials around the offside law. The two new points of guidance are an addition to the current interpretation of interfering with an opponent, but do not constitute a change in the Laws of the Game.

The additional IFAB guidance

A player in an offside position shall be penalised if he:

1. clearly attempts to play a ball which is close to him when this action impacts on an opponent or 

2. makes an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.

1. “Clearly attempts to play a ball which is close to him when this action impacts on an opponent”. The first part of the guidance has three elements: clearly attempts to play a ball; close to him; and when this action impacts on an opponent and all three of these elements are required for an offside offence to be committed. Judgement should be based on the physical evidence of the movement and actions of the player in an offside position. Attacking players who clearly attempt to play a ball which is close to them, and in doing so clearly impact on an opponent's ability to play the ball, should be penalised.

2. “Makes an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball”. The second part of the guidance has two elements and both an obvious action and impact are necessary for an offside offence to be penalised. Match officials will have to consider whether an obvious action by an attacking player in an offside position means that the opponent would need to delay his action to wait and see if the attacking player in an offside position touches or plays the ball, and/or, the opponent's movement or ball-playing options are clearly restricted by the movement and/or actions of the attacking player in an offside position.

"Clearly attempts": this wording is designed to prevent a player in an offside position who runs towards the ball from quite a long distance being penalised (unless he gets close to the ball).

"Close": is important so that a player in an offside position is not penalised when the ball goes clearly over his head or clearly in front of him.

"Impacts": applies to an opponent's ability (or potential) to play the ball and will include situations where an opponent's movement to play the ball is delayed, hindered or prevented by the offside player.

Source: IFAB/Premier League