Wolfgang Stark

Wolfgang Stark

Stark refereeing a Champions League match between Spartak Moscow and Olympique de Marseille in 2010.
Born	(1969-11-20) 20 November 1969 Landshut, Germany
Other occupation	Bank assistant
Domestic
Years	League	Role
1996–	Fußball-Bundesliga	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
1999–	FIFA-listed	Referee

Wolfgang Stark (born 20 November 1969 in Landshut), is a German football referee. He has refereed matches in the Champions League and qualifications to the European Football Championship and the World Cup. In 2007, he refereed five matches at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup including 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" ^[1] and for issuing seven yellow cards (out of nine) and two red cards against the Chilean team during the match.^[2] In total he issued 53 fouls, 30 of which he charged to Chile.^[3]

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.^[4] 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.^[4]

Stark was criticized for his performance in the Champions League match between Chelsea and Internazionale in 2010 by the Daily Telegraph. A report claimed that he had missed two clear penalties for Chelsea.^[5]

Stark's performance has also been questioned in some Madrid-based newspapers after Real Madrid's 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League.^[6] The Diario Marca also took issue with a penalty Stark awarded to FC Barcelona in their 3-2 defeat of AC Milan in the next Champions League season's group stage, saying "Aquilani grabbed Xavi inside the box but the contact was not enough to topple Barca brain." The Italian press was less conclusive, with the Gazetta dello Sport calling the decision “generous”. After the incident he then booked the wrong player, when in fact he should have cautioned Alberto Aquilani who would have been sent off for the offence as it would have been his second booking.^[7]

Stark was selected as a referee for the 2008 Summer Olympics football tournament and for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the 2010-11 season of the German Bundesliga he was elected worst referee of the first half of the season by the players.^[8]

During 2012 UEFA European Championship, in Poland, Wolfgang Stark was again at the center of controversy, as he failed to signal what were considered to be one or two clear penalties for Croatia in the match against Spain, both by Croatian players,^[9] international media^[10] and experts,^[11] including prominent Spanish media,^[12] one of which was in the dying minutes of the match, just before Spain scored their sole, winning goal. This result eliminated Croatia, while a Croatia victory would result in Spain being eliminated. After that game, UEFA decided not to nominate him as referee for the remaining parties of the tournament.

In the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, he refereed the Manchester United - Galatasaray, after which he was highly criticized by the Turkish press for failing to detect two clear penalties for the Galatasaray side.^[13]

In the 2012–13 Fußball-Bundesliga,he refereed a match between Borussia Dortmund - VFL Wolfsburg where he awarded a penalty against Borussia Dortmund and gave a Red card to Marcel Schmelzer for a hand ball which was not supposed to be given. He later admitted fault and apologized to the Borussia Dortmund players and fans.

Shortly after that game, Stark made a new error in the game between Hoffenheim and FC Düsseldorf (3-0)when he did not see that Hoffenheims first goal by Roberto Firmino was preceded by a foul.

After the Europeans Champions League game between Paris Saint Germain and FC Barcelona (2012-2013 Champions League), FC Barcelona wrote an official complaint to UEFA claiming that Stark did not know the rules of the game. it was Barcelona's understanding that the referee 'clearly forgot to apply the rules of the game' after he did not stop the game at a moment where two players of the same team were lying on the ground. Barcelona did not want to raise a complaint against a referee as such, but was highly surprised that a referee at that level simply did not know the rules of the game. After this incident German newspaper Die Welt called Stark 'umstrittenster Schiedsrichter' (most questionable referee) in Europe.

In the European Champions League game of 10 December 2013 he was the referee of Olympiacos-Anderlecht (3-1). Olympiacos had to win in order to qualify if Benfica also won against Paris Saint Germain. The commentator of the Belgian television already mentioned prior to the game that Stark is a typical home referee. When Benfica took the lead against PSG, Stark gave 3 consecutive penalties to Olympiacos and sent off 3 Anderlecht-players. Some of these decisions were questionable (like the first penalty with involuntary hands ball, where it was questionable if it should have been a penalty and certainly not a red card). The 3d penalty could also have been a 'schwalbe'.

Games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Date	Time (UTC+2)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Attendance
12 June 2010	16:00	Argentina	1–0	Nigeria	Group B	55,686
23 June 2010	16:00	Slovenia	0–1	England	Group C	36,893
26 June 2010	16:00	Uruguay	2–1	South Korea	Round of 16	30,597

References

Preceded by 2011 Carlos Velasco Carballo	UEFA Europa League Final referee 2012 Wolfgang Stark	Succeeded by 2013 Björn Kuipers