Ivan Henning Hjalmar Eklind (15 October 1905 – 23 July 1981) was a football referee from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

best known for officiating the 1934 FIFA World Cup final between

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He is the youngest referee, to this day, to officiate a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

final at the age of 28.

Career

Eklind officiated the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, senior men's national teams. It took place in Kin ...

semi-final between Italy and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, as well as the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

which Italy won 2–1 over

. Afterwards he was heavily criticised for having favoured the Italian team with his decisions. According to Canadian journalist John Molinaro, Eklind was said to have met with the

Italian fascist Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

prior to officiating Italy's semi-final and final games. Eklind officiated in six World Cup finals matches over three tournaments (1934–1950), as well as becoming one of the assistant referees to

Louis Baert Louis Andre Baert (29 December 1903 – 11 July 1969) was an international football referee from Belgium, particularly active during the 1930s. Baert first came to international prominence in the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy. He was selected as ...

in June 1938, including

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 ...

's triumph against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in Strasbourg in which 11 goals were scored, and a Group A match at the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

. Baert also went on to enjoy an incredibly lengthy international career.

References

External links

Ivan Eklind
at WorldFootball.net * 1905 births 1981 deaths FIFA World Cup finals match officials Swedish football referees 1950 FIFA World Cup referees 1938 FIFA World Cup referees 1934 FIFA World Cup referees People from Stockholm {{Sports-official-bio-stub