Mihály Ivanicsics

Mihály Ivanicsics was an international referee in the 1920s and 1930s; he ran the line in the 1934 FIFA World Cup final between Italy and Hungary in Rome.

Ivanicsics, a contemporary of fellow Hungarian referees Gabor Boronkay, Josef Gero and Paul von Hertzka, had already gained vast experience as an international referee in the 1920s, taking charge of matches as far back as 1926 between Italy and Switzerland in Zurich [1].

He bravely accepted the appointment to the Romania v Bulgaria match in 1929 just after the Hungarian-Romanian conflict, refereed into the 1930s [2]; then was selected to attend the 1934 FIFA World Cup where he was the only Hungarian referee at the tournament. In the tournament he officiated in 4 matches, two of which comprised the controversial Spain v Italy quarter-final in which he ran the line to both Louis Baert and Rene Mercet [3]. His appointment to the final that year may well have been as a result of the politics arising out of that quarter-final.

He was still refereeing internationals into the Second World War - being appointed to the May, 1940 fixture between Italy and Germany in Milan [4].