 Kassai in 2008 | |||
| Born | (1975-09-10)10 September 1975 (age 50) Tatabánya,Hungary | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | ||
| 1996–2019 | NB I | ||
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2003–2019 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Viktor Kassai (Kassai Viktor,Hungarian pronunciation:[ˈkɒʃːɒi ˈviktor]; born 10 September 1975) is a Hungarianfootball official and a formerreferee who is the current head of refereeing department of theBulgarian Football Union. He participated in the2010 FIFA World Cup and refereed the2011 UEFA Champions League Final. He has been a full international referee forFIFA since 2003. He retired as a referee on 30 December 2019.[1]
2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, where he refereed the group stage match betweenBrazil andSouth Korea, as well as theArgentina-North Korea match.
Kassai refereed inUEFA Euro 2008 as the fourth official in several matches. During 2008, he also officiated in the2008 Olympic Games, including in thefinal.[2]
Kassai was preselected as a referee for the2010 FIFA World Cup.[3] He refereed inthe first leg of the AFC 5th vs OFC winner qualifier betweenBahrain andNew Zealand.
On 5 July, it was announced that he would be in charge for theGermany vsSpain semifinal.It was his fourth match in the World Cup. This is the highest prestige match a Hungarian referee has been in charge of sinceSándor Puhl's1994 FIFA World Cup Final.
His first appearance in the2010 FIFA World Cup was a group stage match betweenBrazil andNorth Korea on 15 June 2010, which Brazil won 2–1. He refereed two matches in the group stage. The United States vs Ghana match finished after extra time, becoming the first match in the World Cup to happen so. It was the first time that either Ghana or the United States played in a World Cup match ending in extra time.
Kassai was the head of an all-Hungarian crew in the2011 UEFA Champions League Final atWembley Stadium inLondon, where he cautioned two players apiece on both theBarcelona (Daniel Alves andVictor Valdés) andManchester United (Antonio Valencia andMichael Carrick) sides.
At theUEFA Euro 2012, Kassai officiated matches Spain vs Italy and England vs Ukraine. This was the first international tournament where two additional assistant referees were introduced on the goal-lines.[4] During the England and Ukraine game a Ukrainian strike was cleared by English defenderJohn Terry, but TV re-plays showed that the ball had crossed the line.[5] This led to a debate on the effectiveness of the inclusion of the two additional officials and the need for goal-line technology.[5]FIFA presidentSepp Blatter said, "goal-line technology was a necessity" following the England vs Ukraine match.[6]
On 14 December 2016, Kassai became the first referee to award a penalty after viewing a video replay in a Club World Cup match, doing so in the2016 FIFA Club World Cup semi finals betweenAtlético Nacional andKashima Antlers.[7]
On 9 January 2020 he was appointed the head of refereeing department of theRussian Football Union.[8] He resigned from the position on 13 September 2021.[9]
On 26 January 2022 Kassai was appointed the head of refereeing department of theBulgarian Football Union.[10] He will be in this position until the end of June 2023.[11]
Kassai was involved in two different incidents, in theUEFA Euro 2012[5] and the2016–17 UEFA Champions League.
On 18 April 2017, he refereed the2016–17 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals second-leg betweenReal Madrid andFC Bayern Munich. He was criticized for poor refereeing decisions, as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich had scored two and one goal respectively in which they were offside. He was also criticized for not sending off Madrid playerCasemiro andArturo Vidal in the 48th minute. Madrid won 4–2 after extra time, and advanced to the semi-finals.[12][13]
On 7 November 2018, Kassai refereed the2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage fixture betweenManchester City andShakhtar Donetsk. During the game he awarded the home side a penalty whenRaheem Sterling unintentionally tripped himself in the box, while there was clearly no contact between him and Shakhtar defenders at all. The penalty was converted in byGabriel Jesus and Man City won 6-0.[14]
Sporting positions Viktor Kassai | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | FIFA Men's Olympic Football Tournament Final referee 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | UEFA Champions League Final referee 2011 | Succeeded by |
Men's winners
| |
