World Cup 2022 Ref Watch: Referee & Booking Statistics
The World Cup is fast approaching and with VAR enabled for every fixture one things for sure… refereeing decisions are going to hit the headlines.
The action kicks off on November 20th and will be overseen by a total of 32 referees but who are they? What kind of experience do they have? And who should fans be looking to avoid?
Key Findings:
- Ecuador dirtiest team at 2022 World Cup with 40 yellow and 3 red cards in qualifying – averaging more than 2 yellows per match (England averaged 1.3 yellows per game).
- Dirtiest player in the 2022 World Cup is Uruguay and Tottenham Hotspur’s Rodrigo Bentancur who was booked the most out of any player in qualifying (6 yellows).
- Referee Andres Matonte from Argentina most likely to show a red with 96 red cards in just 168 matches – 57.14% chance per game.
- Most liniment referees Raphael Claus from Brazil averaging 0.09 reds and just 1 yellow card per game. Michael Oliver in the bottom 3 averaging 0.15 reds and 3.11 yellow per match.
- Female referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda least experienced ref having officiated only 1 top flight men’s fixture previously.
- Anthony Taylor most experienced ref with 660 matches under his belt. Closely followed by Michael Oliver with 634.
- Referee Kevin Ortega from Peru most likely to award a penalty (56.5% chance per game) pointing to the spot more in more than half the games he officiates.
Referee Data
| Referee | Apps | Booked | Book pg. | Sent Off | Sent Off pg. | Red Card % | Pens | Pens pg. | Pens % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andres Matonte (Uruguay) | 168 | 941 | 5.60 | 96 | 0.57 | 57.14 | 60 | 0.36 | 35.7 |
| Ivan Barton (Slovenia | 94 | 453 | 4.82 | 40 | 0.43 | 42.55 | 39 | 0.41 | 41.5 |
| Cesar Ramos (Mexico) | 390 | 1670 | 4.28 | 158 | 0.41 | 40.51 | 96 | 0.25 | 24.6 |
| Fernando Rapallini (Argentina) | 321 | 1668 | 5.20 | 128 | 0.40 | 39.88 | 71 | 0.22 | 22.1 |
| Facundo Tello (Argentina) | 213 | 1107 | 5.20 | 83 | 0.39 | 38.97 | 51 | 0.24 | 23.9 |
| Istvan Kovacs (Romania) | 455 | 2415 | 5.31 | 162 | 0.36 | 35.60 | 139 | 0.31 | 30.5 |
| Kevin Ortega (Peru) | 184 | 1047 | 5.69 | 65 | 0.35 | 35.33 | 104 | 0.57 | 56.5 |
| Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela) | 222 | 1077 | 4.85 | 73 | 0.33 | 32.88 | 56 | 0.25 | 25.2 |
| Mario Escobar (Guatemala) | 329 | 1528 | 4.64 | 99 | 0.30 | 30.09 | 14 | 0.04 | 4.3 |
| Clement Turpin (France) | 500 | 1606 | 3.21 | 137 | 0.27 | 27.40 | 172 | 0.34 | 34.4 |
| Victor Gomes (South Africa) | 322 | 1033 | 3.21 | 86 | 0.27 | 26.71 | 110 | 0.34 | 34.2 |
| Wilton Sampaio (Brazil) | 376 | 1837 | 4.89 | 100 | 0.27 | 26.60 | 112 | 0.30 | 29.8 |
| Matthew Conger (New Zealand) | 239 | 1006 | 4.21 | 63 | 0.26 | 26.36 | 110 | 0.46 | 46.0 |
| Danny Makkelie (Netherlands) | 587 | 1846 | 3.14 | 154 | 0.26 | 26.24 | 178 | 0.30 | 30.3 |
| Daniele Orsato (Italy) | 536 | 2563 | 4.78 | 139 | 0.26 | 25.93 | 140 | 0.26 | 26.1 |
| Szymon Marciniak (Poland) | 547 | 2205 | 4.03 | 141 | 0.26 | 25.78 | 244 | 0.45 | 44.6 |
| Ning Ma (China) | 251 | 1067 | 4.25 | 64 | 0.25 | 25.50 | 81 | 0.32 | 32.3 |
| Mohammed Abdulla Hassan (UAE) | 209 | 794 | 3.80 | 51 | 0.24 | 24.40 | 83 | 0.40 | 39.7 |
| Ismail Elfath (United States) | 263 | 948 | 3.60 | 64 | 0.24 | 24.33 | 83 | 0.32 | 31.6 |
| Antonio Mateu (Spain) | 493 | 2287 | 4.64 | 114 | 0.23 | 23.12 | 119 | 0.24 | 24.1 |
| Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria) | 204 | 783 | 3.84 | 42 | 0.21 | 20.59 | 80 | 0.39 | 39.2 |
| Anthony Taylor (England) | 660 | 2255 | 3.42 | 131 | 0.20 | 19.85 | 208 | 0.32 | 31.5 |
| Stephanie Frappart (France) | 230 | 870 | 3.78 | 44 | 0.19 | 19.13 | 64 | 0.28 | 27.8 |
| Chris Beath (Australia) | 276 | 1104 | 4 | 52 | 0.19 | 18.84 | 84 | 0.30 | 30.4 |
| Maguette N’Diaye (Senegal) | 51 | 146 | 2.86 | 8 | 0.16 | 15.69 | 16 | 0.31 | 31.4 |
| Bakary Gassama (Gambia) | 136 | 336 | 2.47 | 21 | 0.15 | 15.44 | 32 | 0.24 | 23.5 |
| Alireza Faghani (Iran) | 339 | 1223 | 3.61 | 52 | 0.15 | 15.34 | 95 | 0.28 | 28.0 |
| Daniel Siebert (Germany) | 458 | 1775 | 3.88 | 70 | 0.15 | 15.28 | 123 | 0.27 | 26.9 |
| Michael Oliver (England) | 634 | 1973 | 3.11 | 94 | 0.15 | 14.83 | 211 | 0.33 | 33.3 |
| Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) | 113 | 326 | 2.88 | 16 | 0.14 | 14.16 | 27 | 0.24 | 23.9 |
| Raphael Claus (Brazil) | 453 | 452 | 1.00 | 40 | 0.09 | 8.83 | 39 | 0.09 | 8.6 |
| Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) | 1 | 6 | 6.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 |
Team Data
| Team | Matches | Yellow | Yellow pg. | Red | Red pg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ecuador | 18 | 40 | 2.22 | 3 | 0.17 |
| Brazil | 17 | 35 | 2.06 | 1 | 0.06 |
| Australia | 21 | 32 | 1.52 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Iran | 18 | 31 | 1.72 | 2 | 0.11 |
| Argentina | 17 | 29 | 1.71 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Uruguay | 18 | 29 | 1.61 | 1 | 0.06 |
| Canada | 20 | 27 | 1.35 | 1 | 0.05 |
| Mexico | 14 | 23 | 1.64 | 1 | 0.07 |
| Saudi Arabia | 18 | 22 | 1.22 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Poland | 11 | 20 | 1.82 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Costa Rica | 15 | 20 | 1.33 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Portugal | 10 | 18 | 1.80 | 1 | 0.10 |
| South Korea | 17 | 18 | 1.06 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Croatia | 10 | 16 | 1.60 | 0 | 0.00 |
| USA | 14 | 16 | 1.14 | 1 | 0.07 |
| Wales | 10 | 15 | 1.50 | 1 | 0.10 |
| Netherlands | 10 | 14 | 1.40 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Serbia | 8 | 14 | 1.75 | 1 | 0.13 |
| Switzerland | 8 | 14 | 1.75 | 0 | 0.00 |
| England | 10 | 13 | 1.30 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Belgium | 8 | 12 | 1.50 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Japan | 18 | 12 | 0.67 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Germany | 10 | 11 | 1.10 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tunisia | 8 | 11 | 1.38 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Denmark | 10 | 10 | 1.00 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Qatar | 8 | 9 | 1.13 | 0 | 0.00 |
| France | 8 | 8 | 1.00 | 1 | 0.13 |
| Ghana | 8 | 8 | 1.00 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Carmeroon | 8 | 7 | 0.88 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Morocco | 8 | 7 | 0.88 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Spain | 8 | 7 | 0.88 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Senegal | 8 | 6 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.00 |
World Cup 2022 Referee & Team Dicipline Data: Breakdown
Dirtiest World Cup Teams
If you’re looking to the bookings markets for a bit of added value or just want to place your usual bet builders then it’s essential you know who’s who and what’s what when it comes to team discipline and the man, or women, on the whistle.
As you can clearly see from our data Ecuador are easily the dirtiest team coming into the tournament, and although they played more games than most to quality, they still top the yellow and red card charts with 40 yellows and 3 reds across just 18 fixtures.
Hot on their heels are South American rivals Brazil with 35 yellows and 1 red across 17 matches and everyone’s mate the Aussies with 32 yellows from 18 games.
England sit a respectable 20th out of 32 teams when it comes to discipline averaging just 1.3 yellows and 0 reds per game in qualifying.
Referee’s To Avoid
If there’s one thing for sure this World Cup it’s that you categorically do not want Referee Andres Matonte from Argentina in charge of any of your games. The guys a mad man and averages more yellows and reds than any other ref in the tournament – 5.6 yellows and 0.57 reds per game.
Similarly, you might want to avoid female referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda who’s only got one professional men’s game under her belt coming into the tournament.
Best bookie: Bet365 have the most markets when it comes to yellow and red cards plus they offer early payouts on football including the upoming World Cup.
We do have VAR to fall back on if things get a little spicey and hopefully that’ll mitigate penalty addict Kevin Ortega from Peru who awards a penalty in 56.5% of the games he refs.
Unfortunately for England fans the two most experienced refs are Anthony Taylor (660 apps) and Michael Oliver (634 apps). You’re welcome rest of the world!
That being said… any team would welcome Raphael Claus from Brazil officiating their fixtures. The most chilled out ref in world football averages just 1 yellow card per game and 0.09 reds.
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