Portuguese referee Artur Soares Dias is on the list of 25 nominated by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) as the best referee in the world. The 44-year-old judge from Porto is the only Portuguese among the candidates, but the president of the Portuguese Association of Football Referees (APAF) highlights the nomination as a testament to the quality of Portuguese referees.
In statements to TSFLuciano Gonçalves maintains that there is no reason to doubt that the national referees “have quality” and advises anyone who has doubts in this regard to keep in mind that “we continue to appoint our referees for all the Champions League matches this year; They were present”. in total, and in Europe they are the ones with the most nominations at the national team level.
Even so, the representative of the arbitrators points out that these “They are like any other human being and they try to give the best of themselves,” so even when they do “great refereeing,” they need to have “the maximum and best conditions to continue doing an excellent job.”
The APAF leader also points out that this appointment of Soares Dias can help attract more people to the referee career and comes at a good time, becoming a “great help for the mega campaign that the federation has launched.”
Added to this incentive is another appointment, although in a different form: that of Cristiano Santos, “who was also nominated for the award as the best futsal referee in the world.”
“Of course, they are two appointments that help us a lot in terms of the image that we also intend to convey to future referee candidates and those who join us,” he reinforces.
The results of the vote will be known on January 1, 2024 and Artur Soares Dias competes for the distinction of best soccer referee in the world with names such as Clément Turpin (France), Danny Makkelie (Netherlands), Szymon Marciniak (Poland), Daniele Orsato (Italy), István Kovács (Romania), Michael Oliver (England), Slavko Vincic (Slovenia), Anthony Taylor (England) or Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain).
Also nominated are François Letexier (France), Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain), Daniel Siebert (Germany), Felix Zwayer (Germany), Wilton Sampaio (Brazil), Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela), Wilmar Roldán (Colombia), Esteban Ostojich ( Uruguay), Andrés Matonte (Uruguay), Darío Herrera (Argentina), Iván Barton (El Salvador), César Arturo Ramos (Mexico), Walter López (Guatemala), Ibrahim Mutaz (Libya) and Ma Ning (China).
Source: TSF
