Milorad Mažić

Milorad Mažić

Mažić showing a yellow card at a Europa League round of 32 first leg match between Rubin Kazan and Olympiakos on 14 February 2012.
Born (1973-03-23) 23 March 1973
Titov Vrbas, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Domestic
Years League
2009– SuperLiga (Serbia)
2009, 2012 Liga I (Romania)
2014 Stars League (Qatar)
2015 Premier League (Egypt)

Milorad Mažić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милорад Мажић; born 23 March 1973) is an international association football referee from Serbia. He became a FIFA referee in 2009. Mažić officiated numerous matches in the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. He was selected as a referee for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2016.[1]

Career

Serbian SuperLiga

During summer 2009 Mažić was selected to referee SuperLiga matches for the upcoming 2009-10 season as the league expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Before commencing his duties in the Serbian league that fall, Mažić got his first experience in European club competition, refereeing the return leg of the Europa League first qualifying phase tie between the home team Llanelli and visiting Motherwell.

In total, Mažić refereed 12 league matches that season in Serbia's top flight. During the same season in October 2009 he refereed his first international match — a 2010 World Cup qualifier between Finland and Wales in Helsinki. The same season also saw him referee a Romanian Liga I match between FC Politehnica Timișoara and Dinamo București on 23 November 2009.

On 17 November 2012, Mažić refereed his first league Eternal derby between Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan.[2]

2013-14 UEFA Champions League and Europa League

In early April 2014, Mažić got the highest-profile assignment of his career up to that point when he got selected as the referee of the Champions League quarter-final first leg match between PSG and Chelsea at Parc des Princes.

A month later in May, he again refereed a Europa League semi-final match, this time it was a return leg between Valencia and Sevilla at Mestalla.

2014 World Cup

Germany vs. Portugal

Mažić refereed the Germany vs. Portugal group stage match in Salvador da Bahia.

In the 11th minute of the contest, he awarded a penalty shot to Germany as João Pereira held back advancing Mario Götze in the Portuguese penalty area and yellow carded Pereira for the foul. Portuguese players surrounded Mažić in protest, including a very agitated Pepe.[3][4] The commentator reaction to the penalty call ranged.[5] The Daily Telegraph's Mark Ogden labeled it "another example of questionable refereeing at this World Cup as contact appeared slight, certainly not enough to force Götze, who made the most of the challenge, off his fit".[6] Paul Wilson of The Guardian felt "most referees at the tournament would have awarded the penalty, adding that "while it could be argued Pereira did not literally pull Götze, he was clearly using his arms to impede the German's progress".[7] On the other hand, Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail generally agreed with the call, saying "perhaps Götze was leaning in to Pereira a little as the two men tussled in the area, but the Portuguese defender did seem to have a grip of his opponent".[8] The Globe and Mail’s Cathal Kelly considered the decision "correct",[3] while former referee Graham Poll agreed with Mažić's penalty call but felt he also should have sent Pereira off instead of only showing him a yellow card, arguing the foul was "a clear denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity".[9]

In the 37th minute with Germany now up 2-0, Mažić had another important decision to make in the aftermath of an action by Pepe while trying to retain possession when his flailing arm connected with Thomas Müller's face. As Müller sat on the ground, Pepe who considered Müller to have embellished the contact[10] leaned down and headbutted the German, which resulted in a straight red card from Mažić. The situation turned out to be the match's biggest talking point[11][12] with observer reaction generally centered around the condemnation of Pepe's actions[3][13][14][15] as well as to a lesser extent discussion whether Müller overemphasized the initial contact.[9][10][16]

In his post-match comments, Portugal's head coach Paulo Bento said Mažić showed "bias" on both occasions, adding: "I am not saying it was only the referee's fault. We also made mistakes but the circumstances of what happened in the first half made the rest of the game difficult for us... The sending-off was forced on the player. I don't know if it was because of Pepe's reputation. It depends what sort of a reputation you think Pepe has".[7]

Argentina vs. Iran

In the next game Mažić refereed the Argentina vs. Iran group stage match in Belo Horizonte.[17]

In addition to sparking a furious response from the Iranian players[18] who rushed and bumped the referee,[19] Mažić's non-call on the Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta's penalty area challenge on Iran's Ashkan Dejagah in the 55th minute produced a post-match discussion on whether a foul had been committed. Iranian print media, including the Jam-e-jam, Quds, and Iran daily newspapers, lambasted the referee over his decision not to award a penalty shot, citing him as the reason Argentina won the match,[20] Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey of Pravda.ru declared Mažić "either biased or incompetent" before proclaiming his 55th minute decision "a disgusting comment on the quality of referees chosen to manage the games of the FIFA World Cup",[21] Metro wrote that despite Zabaleta getting his toe to the ball when tackling Dejagah, "replays showed Iran should've been awarded a spot-kick",[18] Daily Mail’s Matt Lawton[22] and SB Nation's Kevin McCauley[23] felt Dejagah had a "strong claim for a penalty", while the Guardian's Barney Ronay[24] and AP's Karl Ritter[25] wrote in their reports that television replays suggest Zabaleta had gotten a touch on the ball first before bringing down Dejagah and therefore didn't foul the Iranian.

Iran's coach Carlos Queiroz questioned the 55th minute non-call in his post-match comments: "It should have been a penalty and red card. There's no excuse. There's nothing that can explain (why) this Serbian referee (did) not give the penalty. How can this guy sleep tonight, or for the rest of his life? With all respect, I would like to have the opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with him. Why did he do that to us?".[25] Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella supported Mažić's non-call, feeling that Zabaleta got the ball first in his challenge.[26][25]

Two days after the match, the Iranian Football Federation filed an official complaint to FIFA over Mažić's refereeing. Signed by the federation's general-secretary Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, among other things it read: "Unfortunately the referee’s mistake altered the outcome of the game and helped the Argentine side edge past us".[27]

2014-15 UEFA Champions League and Europa League

Having successfully refereed the round-of-16 return leg in March 2015 between Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, Mažić got another important Champions League assignment in April with the quarter-final first leg between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, a Madrid Derby match and a repeat of the previous season's Champions League final.[28] The match ended 0-0. Among the five yellow-carded players were Real's left back Marcelo and Atlético's midfielder Mario Suárez whose bookings meant they had to miss the return leg due to the accumulation of yellow cards throughout the competition. In their post-match comments, both players had complaints about the way Mažić refereed the contest with Suárez going as far as questioning the referee's competence and apparently tying it to his ethnicity, saying on Spanish TV: "The referee is very bad. They can't use a Serbian referee for these type of games, with all my respect. I hope that in the return leg they pick a better referee".[29][30] With the possibility of matches being added to his one-game suspension due to his comments that were taken by some as an ethnic slur,[31] Suárez took to Twitter in order to apologize, tweeeting: "I'd like to apologize if anyone has been offended by my words after the game, it was not my intention. I meant to say that games of this magnitude should be given to a referee from one of the big leagues. Nothing more, we all make mistakes. Lets keep working".[29] The following day, Atlético's centre back Miranda backed his teammate Suárez, continuing to question Mažić's competence due to having a background from the Serbian SuperLiga: "I won't talk about the referee, but I think referees from minor leagues should not be in charge of this kind of game".[32]

Mažić refereed the Europa League semi-final return leg in mid May, his third time being involved in a match at this stage of competition, between Dnipro and Napoli that was played in Kiev instead of Dnipropetrovsk due to the Ukrainian conflict.

In July 2015 Mažić got hired by the Egyptian FA to referee the country's biggest league derby between Cairo cross-town rivals Al Ahly and Zamalek. The match of the Egyptian Premier League was played on 22 July 2015 in a neutral venue in Alexandria without a crowd.[33][34]

References

  1. ↑ "Mažić sudi na Evropskom prvenstvu u Francuskoj" [Mažić to officiate at the UEAFA Euro]. Večernje novosti. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Mažić sudi derbi;mondo.rs, 16 November 2012
  3. 1 2 3 Kelly, Cathal (16 June 2014). "Germany embarrasses flailing Portugal with ease". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  4. ↑ Thoughts on the Referees: Day Five: Milorad Mazic (SRB), Germany v. Portugal
  5. ↑ Red Card or Not: Milorad Mazic and Germany v. Portugal
  6. ↑ Ogden, Mark (16 June 2014). "Germany v Portugal: Thomas Müller scores hat-trick after Portuguese capitulate following straight red card for Pepe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 Wilson, Paul (16 June 2014). "Portugal’s Paulo Bento accuses referee of bias after rout by Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Ladyman, Ian (16 June 2014). "Germany 4-0 Portugal: Thomas Muller scores hat-trick as Pepe is sent-off for butt and Cristiano Ronaldo cuts frustrated figure". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  9. 1 2 Poll, Graham (16 June 2014). "Pepe was rightly shown a red card but Thomas Muller should've been booked for over-reaction to defender's stray arm in face". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  10. 1 2 Hayward, Paul (16 June 2014). "Thomas Müller not to blame for Pepe's headbutt during Germany's 4-0 win over Portugal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "Pepe Red Card Hotter on Twitter Than Lionel Messi's Goal". Indo-Asian News Service. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  12. ↑ "Pepe's red card: The world responds ...". ESPN FC. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "Mourinho criticises Pepe over Germany red card". Eurosport. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Gill, Kieran (16 June 2014). "Diego Maradona says Thomas Muller 'has no muscles' and labels Pepe 'ridiculous' and 'unprofessional' after Germany striker's hat-trick against 10-man Portugal". Daily Mail. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Doyle, Mark (16 June 2014). "The Real Madrid star cut a frustrated figure as his team turned in a woeful performance against Germany". Goal.com. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  16. ↑ "Thomas Mueller under fire over reaction as Pepe sees red for head-butt". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  17. ↑ http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255931/match=300186466/index.html
  18. 1 2 "Should Iran have had a penalty for Pablo Zabaleta’s foul on Ashkan Dejagah in the box?". Metro. 21 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Thoughts on the Referees: Day Ten: Milorad Mazic (SRB), Argentina v. Iran
  20. ↑ "Iran media lament 'injustice' after Argentina World Cup meet". The Financial Express. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  21. ↑ Bancroft-Hinchey, Timothy (21 June 2014). "Iran media lament 'injustice' after Argentina World Cup meet". Pravda.ru. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  22. ↑ Lawton, Matt (21 June 2014). "Argentina 1-0 Iran: Lionel Messi magic saves Alejandro Sabella as superstar fires home injury-time stunner to break minnows and reach last 16". Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  23. ↑ McCauley, Kevin (21 June 2014). "Did Iran deserve a penalty?". SB Nation. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  24. ↑ Ronay, Barney (21 June 2014). "Argentina through after Lionel Messi breaks battling Iran at the last". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  25. 1 2 3 Ritter, Karl (21 June 2014). "Iran Coach Blasts Referee Who Waved Away Penalty". Associated Press. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  26. ↑ Mitten, Andy (21 June 2014). "Queiroz slams ref after Argentina loss". ESPN FC. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  27. ↑ "Iran complains to FIFA about referee’s poor judgment". Press TV. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  28. ↑ "Milorad Mazic to referee derby at Calderón". Marca. 12 April 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  29. 1 2 Sharm, Rik (14 April 2015). "Atletico Madrid midfielder Mario Suarez says referee Milorad Mazic was 'very bad' in Champions League draw with Real Madrid". Daily Mail. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  30. ↑ Conn, Tom (15 April 2015). "Mario Suarez: A Serbian referee shouldn’t be in charge of these matches". InsideSpanishFootball.com. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  31. ↑ Canning, Kieran (14 April 2015). "Suarez risks hot water over Serbian slur". Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  32. ↑ Hay, Anthony (15 April 2015). "Atletico Madrid defender Miranda hits out at 'minor league' referee Milorad Mazic after Champions League clash vs Real Madrid". Daily Mail. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  33. ↑ "Mažić sudi veliki derbi Egipta". B92.net. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  34. ↑ "RELIVE: Ahly v Zamalek (Egyptian Premier League)". AhramOnline. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
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