Wolfgang Stark

Wolfgang Stark (born November 20, 1969 in Landshut), is a German football referee, who officiates in the FIFA league. He has refereed matches in Champions League and qualifications to the European Football Championship and the World Cup. In 2007, he refereed at least two matches at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup including Portugal versus The Gambia and the controversial semi-final between Chile and Argentina.

He was questioned for his performance overseeing the Chile—Argentina match in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, having "lost control of the match early" [ [http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/238024 TheStar.com | Sports | Beautiful game turns ugly] ] and for issuing seven yellow cards (out of nine) and two red cards against the Chilean team during the match. [ [http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=249411/match=58893/statistics.html FIFA.com] ] In total he issued 53 fouls, 30 of which he charged to Chile. [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/07/20/bc.soc.u20.chilefight.ap/index.html]

Stark is no stranger to controversy. In the March 2004 match between Barcelona and Celtic, Stark issued three red cards. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/3497300.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Other European | Celtic 1-0 Barcelona] ]

Following the match Stark and his colleagues were surrounded by livid Chilean players who were restrained by members of the Toronto Police. Stark then had to be escorted off of the pitch and into the dressing room tunnel by police officers for fear that he would be attacked by the crowd and/or Chilean players at the National Soccer Stadium. [http://www.cbc.ca/sports/fifau20/story/2007/07/19/fifa-u20-argentina-chile.html Argentina advances to FIFA U-20 final - FIFA U-20 - Sports - CBC.ca] ] Stark's performance is connected to a further ugly incident, in which Chilean players, still angry after losing the match, fought with and were pepper-sprayed by police officers outside of the stadium. The players were temporarily held inside the stadium by the police for several hours and were released without being arrested.

Chilean striker Nicolás Medina hinted that he felt that the referee was favoring the Argentine team, stating that "Eleven against eleven, the game would have been much more fair." [http://www.metronews.ca/story.aspx?id=63556 Argentina dives to finals] ] Added to this is the perception that the Argentine players were able to employ "diving" tactics and "theatrics" to influence the referee's calls. One glaring example of this resulted in the first ejection of the game, where the Argentinian player, Mercado, "grabbed his face and rolled around on the ground for a bit pretending to be in pain. It worked." [http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Soccer/article/238069 TheStar.com | Soccer | Argentina win ends in chaos] ] The player who tackled him, Medel, was red carded.

Stark was selected as a referee for the 2008 Summer Olympics soccer tournament in Beijing, in which he issued a third minute red card to a United States player versus Nigeria in final pool play.

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