Catastrophical Performances with Consequences: Ivan Bebek and Arnold Hunter have been demoted

UEFA's Referee Committee has updated the Referee Categories for the 1st half of the 2016/17 campaign. There are only two changes: Ivan Bebek from Croatia has been demoted from Elite Group after only one year in the highest category. Furthermore, Arnold Hunter of Northern Ireland has been relegated to Second Group.
At their meeting on 8 June, the Referee Committee headed by Pierluigi Collina has only made two changes.

 Ivan Bebek, referee of the Europa League game between SC Braga and Fenerbahçe SK, probably showed one controversial performance too much. The former Elite referee is demoted for the 2nd time in his career.

Northern Ireland's Arnold Hunter made incredibly clear crucial mistakes in Olympiakos vs RSC Anderlecht all favouring the Greek side. UEFA had then started investigations into the decision-taking-process and potential match-fixing.

All other referees stay in their groups. So: better show continuously poor performances and proof that you are actually no Elite referee than having one nightmare evening. That's the message sent by UEFA and I am sure that all referees have understood it.


Elite Group 
Martin Atkinson (ENG), Deniz Aytekin (GER), Felix Brych (GER), Cüneyt Çakır (TUR), Mark Clattenburg (ENG), William Collum (SCO), Jonas Eriksson (SWE), David Fernández Borbalán (ESP), Ovidiu Alin Hategan (ROU), Sergei Karasev (RUS), Viktor Kassai (HUN), Pavel Královec (CZE), Björn Kuipers (NED), Szymon Marciniak (POL), Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP), Milorad Mažić (SRB), Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR), Bas Nijhuis (NED), Daniele Orsato (ITA), Nicola Rizzoli (ITA), Gianluca Rocchi (ITA), Tasos Sidiropoulos (GRE), Damir Skomina (SVN), Paolo Tagliavento (ITA), Craig Thomson (SCO), Clément Turpin (FRA), Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP), Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP)

First Group
Ievgenii Aranovskiy (UKR),  Luca Banti (ITA), Benoît Bastien (FRA), John Beaton (SCO), Ivan Bebek (CRO), Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS), Kevin Blom (NED), Tamás Bognar (HUN), Serhiy Boiko (UKR), Ruddy Buquet (FRA), Tony Chapron (FRA), Sébastien Delferiere (BEL), Oliver Drachta (AUT), Aleksei Eskov (RUS), Javier Estrada Fernández (ESP), Simon Evans (WAL), Mattias Gestranius (FIN), Pawel Gil (POL), Jesús Gil Manzano (ESP), Hüseyin Göçek (TUR), Serdar Gözübüyük (NED), Manuel Gräfe (GER), Serge Gumienny (BEL), Stefan Johannesson (SWE), Matej Jug (SVN), Jakob Kehlet (DEN), István Kovács (ROU), Ivan Kruzliak (SVK), Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR), Harald Lechner (AUT), Liran Liany (ISR), Robert Madden (SCO), Danny Makkelie (NED), Andre Marriner (ENG), Gediminas Mazeika (LTU), Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni (ITA), Michael Oliver (ENG), Halis Özkahya (TUR), Clayton Pisani (MLT), Pawel Raczkowski (POL), Robert Schörgenhofer (AUT), Artur Soares Dias (POR), Manuel Sousa (POR), Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD), Tobias Stieler (GER), Marijo Strahonja (CRO), Martin Strömbergsson (SWE), Anthony Taylor (ENG), Alexandru Tudor (ROU), István Vad (HUN), Slavko Vinčič (SVN), Tobias Welz (GER), Alon Yefet (ISR), Miroslav Zelinka (CZE), Felix Zwayer (GER)

Second Group 
Anatoliy Abdula (UKR), Aliyar Aghayev (AZE), Thorvaldur Arnason (ISL), Ionut Marius Avram (ROU), Pavel Balaj (ROU), Alain Bieri (SUI), Marcin Borski (POL), Alexandre Boucaut (BEL), Kevin Clancy (SCO), Carlos Clos Gómez (ESP), Sebastian Coltescu (ROU), Nikola Dabanović (MNE), Andrew Dallas (SCO), Antonio Damato (ITA), Bastian Dankert (GER), Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP), Amaury Delerue (FRA), Christian Dingert (GER), Neil Doyle (IRL), Svein-Erik Edvartsen (NOR), Andreas Ekberg (SWE), Fredy Fautrel (FRA), Bartosz Frankowski (POL), Marco Fritz (GER), Antony Gautier (FRA), Vlado Glodjović (SRB), Orel Grinfeeld (ISR), Marco Guida (ITA), Tore Hansen (NOR), Alexander Harkam (AUT), Alejandro Hernández Hernández (ESP), Arnold Hunter (NIR), Sergei Ivanov (RUS), Adrien Jaccottet (SUI), Ken Henry Johnsen (NOR), Enea Jorgji (ALB), Georgi Kabakov (BUL), Mete Kalkavan (TUR), Charalampos Kalogeropoulos (GRE), Stephan Klossner (SUI), Artyom Kuchin (KAZ), Sergei Lapochkin (RUS), Jonathan Lardot (BEL), Richard Liesveld (NED), Robert Madley (ENG), Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP), Davide Massa (ITA), Dimitar Meckarovski (MKD), Vitaly Meshkov (RUS), Steven McLean (SCO), Hugo Miguel (POR), Benoît Millot (FRA), Antti Munukka (FIN), Ville Nevalainen (FIN), Christos Nicolaides (CYP), Aleksei Nikolaev (RUS), Ali Palabiyik (TUR), Bojan Pandzić (SWE), Craig Pawson (ENG), Radu Petrescu (ROU), Nikola Popov (BUL), Lee Probert (ENG), Pavle Radovanović (MNE), Nicolas Rainville (FRA), Roi Reinshreiber (ISR), Alan Mario Sant (MLT), Sandro Schärer (SUI), Frank Schneider (FRA), Manuel Schüttengruber (AUT), Eitan Shmuelevitz (ISR), Daniel Siebert (GER), Daniel Stefanski (POL), Ivaylo Stoyanov (BUL), Padraigh Sutton (IRL), Stanislav Todorov (BUL), Kristo Tohver (EST), Leontios Trattou (CYP), Andris Treimanis (LVA), Siarhei Tsynkevich (BLR), Michael Tykgaard (DEN), Paolo Valeri (ITA), Ognjen Valjić (BIH), Pol van Boekel (NED), Bart Vertenten (BEL), Ante Vucemilović-simunović jr (CRO), Carlos Xistra (POR), Anatoliy Zhabchenko (UKR)

Third Group 
Mohammed Al-Hakim (SWE), Alexandr Aliyev (KAZ), Sascha Amhof (SUI), Sándor Andó-Szabó (HUN), Dennis Antamo (FIN), Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (LVA), Petr Ardeleanu (CZE), Alexandros Aretopoulos (GRE), Suren Baliyan (ARM), Veaceslav Banari (MDA, again FIFA), Sven Bindels (LUX), Deniz Ates Bitnel (TUR), Jörgen Daugbjerg Burchardt (DEN), Johnny Casanova (SMR), Fabio Costa Verissimo (POR), Raymond Crangle (NIR), Andrew Davey (NIR), Oleksandr Derdo (UKR), Vasilis Dimitriou (CYP), Nenad Djokić (SRB), Alain Durieux (LUX), Adam Farkas (HUN), Trustin Cann Farrugia (MLT), Juri Frischer (EST), Aleksander Gauzer (KAZ), Filip Glova (SVK), Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA), Sergio Filipe Grade de Sousa Piscarreta (POR), Danilo Grujić (SRB), Dag Vidar Hafsas (NOR), Markus Hameter (AUT), Nikolaj Hänni (SUI), Robert Harvey (IRL), Rahim Hasanov (AZE), Thoroddur Hjaltalin (ISL), Zaven Hovhannisyan (ARM), Dejan Jakimovski (MKD), Edin Jakupović (BIH), Jari Järvinen (FIN), Lorenc Jemini (ALB), Gunnar Jónsson (ISL), Srdjan Jovanović (SRB), Fran Jović (CRO), Jovan Kaludjerović (MNE), Ferenc Karakó (HUN), Peter Kjaersgaard (DEN), Georgios Kominis (GRE), Laurent Kopriwa (LUX), Yaroslav Kozyk (UKR), Peter Kralović (SVK), Tvetan Krastev (BUL), Mads Kristoffersen (DEN), Giorgi Kruashvili (GEO), Georgios Kyzas (GRE), Nicolas Laforge (BEL), Erik Lambrechts (BEL), Kirill Levnikov (RUS), Tiago Lopes Martins (POR), Martin Lundby (NOR), Jens Maae (DEN), Orkhan Mammadov (AZE), Stavros Mantalos (GRE), Boris Marhefka (SVK), Bryn David Markham-Jones (WAL), Tim Marshall (NIR), Dimitrios Masias (CYP), Paul McLaughlin (IRL), Yuriy Mozharovskyy (UKR), Dumitru Muntean (MDA), Tomasz Musial (POL), Ola Hobber Nilsen (NOR), Glenn Nyberg (SWE), Pavel Orel (CZE, new FIFA), Dominik Ouschan (AUT), Anastasios Papapetrou (GRE), Erez Papir (ISR), Bardhyl Pashaj (ALB), Tihomir Pejin (CRO), Irfan Peljto (BIH), Anders Poulsen (DEN), Zbynek Proske (CZE), Petur Reinert (FAR), Donatas Rumsas (LTU), Fedayi San (SUI), Joao Santos Capela (POR), Dzianis Shcharbakou (BLR), Lasha Silagava (GEO), Joao Pedro Silva Pinheiro (POR), Sergejus Slyva (LTU), Ryan Stewart (WAL), Roomer Tarajev (EST), Alexandru Tean (MDA), Vilhjalmur Alvar Thorarinnsson (ISL), Stanislav Todorov (BUL), Alex De Albuquerque Troleis (FRO), Alper Ulusoy (TUR), George Vadachkoria (GEO), Mikhail Vilkov (RUS), Ignasi Villamayor (AND), Vladimir Vnuk (SVK), Nikolay Yordanov (BUL), Fyodor Zammit (MLT), Mario Zebec (CRO), Mitja Zganec (SVN) 

12:08 AM