Ravshan Sayfiddin oʻgʻli Irmatov (; ; born August 9, 1977) is an Uzbek professional

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 ...

. He officiated in the

Uzbek League Uzbekistan Super League (; ), known as Artel Uzbekistan Super League due to sponsorship reasons (; ), is the top division of professional football in Uzbekistan. It is operated under the auspices of the Uzbekistan Professional Football League a ...

from 2000-2019 and internationally from 2003-2019. Irmatov holds the record for officiating the most

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 ...

matches with 11. In June 2019, Ravshan Irmatov was appointed as the first Vice-President of the Uzbekistan Football Association. The first Vice-President of this organization is the de facto leader of Uzbekistan’s football. He began reforms in Uzbekistani football after long criticism and corruption scandals in the country's football. During the inauguration, he said, “If we all come together and work for the same goal, we will overcome any difficulties”.

Biography and career

He was born on August 9 in 1977 in Tashkent in a footballer's family. Irmatov's father was also a referee, working in

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

competitions. He has been a full international referee for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

since 2003 and is considered one of the elite referees in the world. He was selected as a referee for the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the scor ...

in Canada, where he refereed the group-stage match between

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, as well as the match between

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and Congo. He was named The Best Referee in Asia for four consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and also in 2014), and was selected to officiate the final of both the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and 2011 FIFA Club World Cup. Irmatov was selected as a referee for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

and was in charge of the opening match between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

on June 11. Irmatov equalled the record for number of matches in charge in a single FIFA World Cup when he took charge of 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 ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

semi-final. He took charge of the World Cup 2010 Group C Fixture, where

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

met

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

in Cape Town – thus becoming the youngest official to take charge of an opening World Cup match since 1934 and the youngest referee of

. Irmatov also officiated at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

and was selected to referee the final between Australia and Japan. Irmatov was selected as a referee at the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourn ...

. In the

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

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

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 ...

on 22 June, he blew his whistle to award Italy a penalty and was seen pointing at the penalty spot. A second later, as play continued,

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back or Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Consi ...

scored with a low shot, with Irmatov instead pointing to the halfway line to signal a goal. Irmatov admitted to his mistake after the game saying: “While I was whistling for a penalty, out of the corner of my eye I saw the goal and I thought advantage should be played and gave the goal.” On 27 December 2015 at Globe Soccer Awards ceremony in Dubai Ravshan Irmatov was named as ''Best Referee of the Year'' in 2015. On 31 December 2015 president of Uzbekistan

Islam Karimov Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov (30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was an Uzbek politician who served as the first president of Uzbekistan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the ...

signed a decree “On awarding Ravshan Irmatov with the order '' Buyuk Hizmatlari Uchun''” (For outstanding services). On 4 March 2016 Irmatov was named ''Referee of the Year 2015 in Uzbekistan'' by Football Federation for 10th time after survey results among sport journalists. In 2023, Irmatov was elected to be the AFC executive committee representative of the central zone.

Honours

Individual

* Uzbekistan Referee of the Year (10): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 * AFC Referee of the Year (5): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 * Globe Soccer Award for the Best Referee of the Year: 2015

Order

* El-Yurt Hurmati (Honour of people and Motherland) in 2014 * Buyuk Hizmatlari Uchun (For outstanding services) in 2015

Matches

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup (or commonly called the Asian Cup 2019) was the 17th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international association football, football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

** vs ** vs ** vs (round of 16) ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (final) *

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

** vs ** vs * 2017 FIFA Club World Cup **

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

Wydad AC Wydad Athletic Club (, ), often known outside Morocco as Wydad Casablanca, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional Association football, football team that competes in Botola, the top tier of th ...

(second round) *

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's Association football, football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, ...

**Video assistant referee *

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, for national teams which were members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 4.5 slots (four direct slots and one int ...

** vs (second round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (fourth round) *

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

** vs ** vs ** vs ** vs (semifinal) *

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

** vs ** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) *

** vs *

2013 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup was the 5th edition of this regional competition, the football championship of East Asia. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2012. Mongolia were suspended from the EAFF and could not compete in any EAFF c ...

** vs (final tournament) * 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup ** vs (final leg 2nd) * 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) ** vs (third round) *

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

** vs ** vs ** vs (bronze medal match) * 2011 FIFA Club World Cup **

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

vs Espérance de Tunis (match for fifth place) ** Santos vs

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(final) *

** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (final) *

** vs (Opening match) ** vs ** vs ** vs (quarter-finals) ** vs (semi-finals) * 2008 FIFA Club World Cup ** Al Ahly vs

(quarter-finals) ** LDU Quito vs

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

(final)

References

External links

FIFA Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irmatov, Ravshan 1977 births Living people Footballers from Tashkent Uzbekistani football referees 2010 FIFA World Cup referees Olympic football referees Football referees at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2014 FIFA World Cup referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees CONCACAF Champions Cup referees AFC Asian Cup referees Recipients of the Order of Outstanding Merit