| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rudolf Kreitlein | ||
| Born | 14 November 1919 Fürth, Germany |
||
| Other occupation | Tailor | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1963–1969 | Bundesliga | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1966 | UEFA | Referee | |
Rudolf Kreitlein (born 14 November 1919 in Fürth) is a former German international football referee from the 1960s.
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Kreitlein is, perhaps, most well-known for his refereeing of the 1966 World Cup quarter-final match between England and Argentina in which he dismissed Antonio Rattín from the field of play in the 35th minute of the game for dissent.[1] Rattín initially refused to leave the pitch, arguing furiously with Kreitlein (even though neither man understood each other's native language) and the game was held up for several minutes until Rattín reluctantly departed. It was also during that game that Jack Charlton was cautioned, only to discover the fact the next day from the newspaper report. As a result of this incident Ken Aston developed the idea of yellow cards and red cards to aid on-field communication in football. Kreitlein, who had never seen the match, requested a copy of the game from the Football Association in 2006.[2] Kreitlein retired from international competition following the game.
Kreitlein rise to prominence within the European game was evident prior to the World Cup. He had been appointed as one of the German representatives for the 1963 UEFA Youth Championship in England, refereeing the final between England and Northern Ireland at Wembley (his assistants were the Hungarian orchestral conductor and referee Istvan Zsolt and the Belgian Mark Raemaekers).
Kreitlein had been a Bundesliga referee from 1963 (the first season of that national league) but had only refereed 36 matches at national level before being appointed referee (in May 1966) to the European Cup Final, where he took charge of the game between Real Madrid and Partizan Belgrade in Brussels.
| Preceded by European Cup Final 1965 Gottfried Dienst |
European Cup Referees Final 1966 Rudolf Kreitlein |
Succeeded by European Cup Final 1967 Kurt Tschenscher |