Ranked: The worst referees in football history

Football is one of the harder sports to referee in the world, with so many decisions being entirely subjective. However, we, as fans, know when a referee has got a decision wrong, or in some cases, keeps making mistakes game after game. Here is our list of the worst referees of all time, based on one-off terrible decisions or just terrible overall careers.

Many football fans consider Anthony Taylor to be a fine referee, but if you ask fans of a team that plays in West London and wears blue, you’ll hear a different story. Taylor has built a reputation for consistently going against Chelsea over the years, with his decision to send off Matteo Kovacic in the 2020 FA Cup final a point of contention to this day.

Per GiveMeSports, Bartosz Frankowski has been banned by UEFA following a Champions League qualifying game between Rangers and Dynamo Kyiv earlier this year. Not for anything he did on the pitch, but for his “improper behaviour,” off it, after he and his officiating crew were found drinking in the early hours the night before the match.

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One of only two men in the stadium who didn’t see Diego Maradona handle the ball over Peter Shilton in 1986, Bin Nasser possibly changed the course of footballing history after missing the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal. Reportedly, the Tunisian blamed his assistant referee for missing the handball.

Valentin Ivanov oversaw the ‘Battle of Nuremberg’ at the 2006 World Cup between the Netherlands and Portugal, which saw four red cards and 16 yellows. The Russian referee completely lost control of the match, leading to Sepp Blatter saying, “I think there could have been a yellow card for the referee,” and banning Ivanov from the rest of the tournament.

Atwell is generally thought of as one of the worst referees to have ever officiated in the top level of English football, consistently making controversial (and incorrect decisions). His most famous gaff was back in 2008 during a Championship game between Watford and Reading, where he awarded a goal for seemingly no reason as the ball never crossed the line and no player even attempted to celebrate.

Trevor Kettle is currently serving as the Chief Refereeing Officer in the All India Football Federation, which is quite the career move for a man known as one of the worst to ever pick up a whistle in England. Per GiveMeSport, during Kettle’s first 10 games as a professional ref, he handed out seven red cards, also once denying a goal as he accidentally blew his whistle.

The African Cup of Nations is consistently filled with incredible moments of footballing skill and intriguing decisions. None more so than in 2021, when Janny Sikazwe blew for full-time twice before the 90 minutes were up, once in the 85th minute, and again four minutes later, per FourFourTwo. The refereeing chief explained that, “Janny Sikazwe had heatstroke and was suffering from dehydration. He completely lost concentration.”

Coote has become the face of referees in England in recent times, and not for the right reason. Coote was shown on video calling Jurgen Klopp a variety of expletives, and it has since been revealed he was arranging a “drugs party” just minutes before he was set to be the VAR in a game between Man City and Spurs, per The Mirror.

The first of two refs who were overly sympathetic to the host nation of South Korea at the 2002 World Cup. Korea unexpectedly reached the semi-finals, with a little help from the Egyptian Al-Ghandour, who overturned two Spain goals for no reason and was very lenient on the South Korean keeper for stepping off his line during the shoot-out.

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Another ref that will give Chelsea fans cold sweats, Tom Henning Ovrebo oversaw what is probably the most controversial Champions League game of all time between the Blues and FC Barcelona. Even he described it as, “not my best day really,” after every decision he made seemed to affect Chelsea negatively.

This is another moment in AFCON history that will live long in infamy, due to Mourad Daami’s decision to rule out Victor Ikpeba’s penalty in the penalty shoutout during the 2000 final. Ikpeba’s penalty cleared the line by a good yard, but was recorded as a miss, allowing Cameroon to win the title.

Admittedly, this one is incredibly funny as Wolf-Dieter Ahlenfelder blew his whistle for half-time just 32 minutes into his third-ever Bundesliga game as a ref back in 1975. Players from both Werder Bremen and Hannover were reportedly as confused as the fans, per FourFourTwo. Ahlenfelder had reportedly been drinking schnapps and beer before the game, when asked why he responded, “We are men, we don't drink Fanta.”

Graham Poll was mostly well respected during his career, but two mistakes will haunt him forever. The first was his pedantic time-keeping in 2000 during a Merseyside derby, blowing the final whistle as the ball was en route to goal. The second and more famous gaff came in 2006 when he gave Croatian defender Josip Simunic three yellow cards before sending him off.

Riley was one of the most experienced referees English football has ever seen, and carried a reputation for being very happy to hand out yellow and red cards at a whim. In 2004, in a game between Man United and Arsenal, Riley decided to keep his hand out of his pocket even as United players scythed down their opponents to end their 49-game unbeaten run. On a Sky Sports segment, Gary Neville even had the cheek to thank Riley for the win!

For anyone who watched Byron Moreno oversee South Korea vs Italy at the 2002 World Cup, you would have suspected the fix was in. There is no evidence to suggest this was pre-planned, but Moreno gave every decision in Korea’s favour, including one of the softer penalties you’ll see and sending off Francesco Totti for a dive when it should have been an Italian pen.

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