Ioan Igna (born 4 June 1940) is a Romanian former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

and

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. Igna played football at

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

between 1957 and 1960 and 1964–1967 and at

Știința Timișoara Știința means "science" in Romanian. When transliterated from the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet, it may be spelled Shtiintsa. The word may refer to: * Editura Știința, a publishing house in Moldavian SSR and Moldova *Sports clubs associated with ...

between 1961 and 1964, he became a referee in 1972. He is known for having refereed two matches in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

in Mexico, including an epic quarter-final match between

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Igna made two controversial calls during the tie. In the second period of extra time, he did not penalise a foul by the Brazil goalkeeper Carlos on France attacker

Bruno Bellone Bruno Bellone (born 14 March 1962) is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger, and who earned 34 caps and scored two goals for France from 1981 to 1988. One of the goals was in the final of the 1984 European Championships ...

. BBC commentator

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

described Igna's decision to ignore the foul by Carlos as "an extreme mistake". In the penalty shootout, he awarded a goal when Bellone's shot hit the post and the ball rebounded off Carlos before entering the goal. The laws of the game were subsequently amended to specifically address the situation that occurred in the penalty shootout. He also refereed the second leg of the 1987 UEFA Cup Final and a semi-final in the

1988 UEFA European Football Championship The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France were the defending champio ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

between the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

References

External links

Profile
1940 births Footballers from Timișoara Romanian men's footballers Men's association football defenders FC UTA Arad players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Liga I players Romanian football referees Olympic football referees 1986 FIFA World Cup referees Living people UEFA Euro 1988 referees 20th-century Romanian sportsmen {{Romania-footy-defender-1940s-stub