50 All-Time World Referee Ranking (1987-2008)

The question of who were the world’s all-time best referees can only be answered hypothetically up to 1986. Only with the introduction of the annual voting of "The World‘s best Referee" (by IFFHS), and with it the associated annual world ranking of the referees in 1987, were objective conditions created for it. Consequently, the best referees in the world can only be determined objectively from 1987. To do that, regard will be had to the annual "Top 10", with each referee awarded the number of points appropriate to his place in the rankings. The first receives ten points, down to the 10th who gets one point; the total points will give the All-Time World Referee Ranking since 1987.

The world ranking of referees is now available and covers 22 years. It will be updated annual in January, with each additional year. The IFFHS plans a Gala in 2012 to mark "25 Years World Referee", to which will be invited and honoured all annual winners and the "Top ten" in the overall placings.

The referees for the period 1872 to 1986 will considered by the IFFHS using a different methodology: taking account of referees with the most appearances in full "A" internationals, analogous Olympic matches, national cup finals, national championships and continental club competitions. The various rankings of the referees will be determined chronologically and published (including text and photos) step-by-step on the IFFHS web site. The first of the world rankings are already published in the chapters I, II, III, IV and V.

50 All-Time World Referee Ranking (1987-2008)

referee nationality points
1. Dr. Pierluigi Collina Italia 86
2. Dr. Markus Merk Deutschland 66
3. Peter Mikkelsen Danmark 62
4. Kim Milton Nielsen Danmark 50
5. Sándor Puhl Magyarország 50
6. Anders Frisk Sverige 40
7. Ľuboš Micheł Slovensko 37
8. Pier-Luigi Pairetto Italia 37
9. Michel Vautrot France 36
10. Urs Meier Schweiz 34
11. Joël Quiniou France 32
12. Hellmut Krug Deutschland 28
13. Hugh Dallas Scotland 28
14. Luigi Agnolin Italia 28
15. George Courtney England 24
16.*** Oscar Julián Ruiz Acosta Colombia 23
17. Alexis Ponnet Belgique 23
18. Juan Carlos Loustau Argentina 23
19.*** Roberto Rosetti Italia 21
20. Aron Schmidhuber Deutschland 20
21.*** Manuel Enrique Mejuto González España 20
22. José Roberto Ramiz Wright Brasil 19
23. Mario van der Ende Nederland 19
24. Bernd Heynemann Deutschland 17
25. Dieter Pauly Deutschland 17
26. Erik Fredriksson Sverige 17
27.*** Herbert Fandel Deutschland 17
28. Horacio Marcelo Elizondo Argentina 16
29. José Manuel García-Aranda E España 15
30. Valentin Ivanov Russia 15
31. Romualdo Arppi Filho Brasil 14
32. David Roland Elleray England 13
33. Leslie William Mottram Scotland 13
34.*** Massimo Busacca Schweiz 13
35. Tullio Lanese Italia 13
36.*** Frank De Bleeckere Belgique 12
37. Javier Alberto Castrilli Argentina 12
38.*** Jorge L Larriondo Pietrafesa Uruguay 12
39. Manuel Díaz Vega España 12
40. Arturo Brizio Carter Mexico 11
41. Bo Karlsson Sverige 11
42. Graham Poll England 11
43. Ion Craciunescu România 11
44. Luis Medina Cantalejo España 10
45. Saïd Belqola Maroc 9
46. Zoran Petrović Srbija 9
47. Vítor Manuel Melo Pereira Portugal 8
48. Ali Mohamed Bujsaim UAE 7
49.*** Benito Armando Archundia Tellez México 7
50. Bruno Galler Schweiz 7

*** = still international active