in the 2006 World Cup Final when fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo informed referee Horacio Elizondo of the headbutt of France's Zinedine Zidane against Marco Materazzi, resulting in Elizondo showing Zidane a red card and sending him from the field. French manager Raymond Domenech accused Cantalejo of using the replay board to initiate the process that led to Zidane's ejection, which would have broken FIFA rules, but FIFA maintained that Cantalejo did not breach any rules and acted properly.[2]
The fourth official serves as a replacement official in the event that one of the other officials (referee or assistant referees) cannot continue officiating (usually through injury).
In situations where an assistant referee is unable to continue, the fourth official replaces that assistant referee. In situations where the referee is unable to continue, the fourth official replaces the referee directly, or the senior assistant referee replaces the referee, with the fourth official in turn taking an assistant's position. Competition rules are supposed to clarify which of these options is to occur. If for some reason it is not stated, then typically the official with the most refereeing experience (either the fourth official or the senior assistant referee) will replace the referee.
Extra officials
Assistants beyond those discussed above are generally uncommon. However, extra official roles have been trialled in a few international tournaments.
Fifth official
For matches in the 2006 World Cup, FIFA assigned five officials. The role of the fifth official is to assist the fourth official in a variety of tasks, and potentially be called upon to replace another match official if necessary, for example in the case of injury.[3] If an assistant referee could not carry on his duties, the fifth official was to be the primary replacement, whereas the fourth official was the referee's primary replacement.[4] This distinction was made to reflect the fact that assistant referees and referees perform different tasks.[4]
The fourth official serves as a replacement official in the event that one of the other officials (referee or assistant referees) cannot continue officiating (usually through injury).
In situations where an assistant referee is unable to continue, the fourth official replaces that assistant referee. In situations where the referee is unable to continue, the fourth official replaces the referee directly, or the senior assistant referee replaces the referee, with the fourth official in turn taking an assistant's position. Competition rules are supposed to clarify which of these options is to occur. If for some reason it is not stated, then typically the official with the most refereeing experience (either the fourth official or the senior assistant referee) will replace the referee.
Extra officials
Assistants beyond those discussed above are generally uncommon. However, extra official roles have been trialled in a few international tournaments.
Fifth official
For matches in the 2006 World Cup, FIFA assigned five officials. The role of the fifth official is to assist the fourth official in a variety of tasks, and potentially be called upon to replace another match official if necessary, for example in the case of injury.[3] If an assistant referee could not carry on his duties, the fifth official was to be the primary replacement, whereas the fourth official was the referee's primary replacement.[4] This distinction was made to reflect the fact that assistant referees and referees perform different tasks.[4]
