Dragons on the European stage: Are football referees stronger than the game?

The BiH national team will play its fifth playoff match tomorrow. So far, they have met Portugal four times. Three losses and one goalless draw were the final result of these duels. Two matches were officiated by Englishmen Martin Atkinson and Howard Webb, and one by Italian Roberto Rosetti. Rosetti gave a red card to Sejad Salihović, while Wolfgang Stark (Štark) had the worst refereeing performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bad memories of refereeing

He was the referee in that disastrous match against Portugal when we lost 6-2.

At that time, in the 54th minute, he gave Senad Lulić a red card. Football fans reviewed and analyzed Štark's refereeing and noticed incredible bias. For a full 22 minutes, Štark did not allow our players to receive the ball, and when he called a foul on Zvjezdan Misimović without contact and, almost a meter away from the Portuguese player, our player started a heated argument with Štark. After this match, Wolfgang was metaphorically nicknamed "Gang" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Who is the referee Felix Brych, the second German who will officiate our match against Ireland? He turned 40 in August, and is a lawyer by profession. In Bosnia, a common saying has been around for a long time: Lawyers and football referees are the worst. Fortunately, when you delve a little deeper into his biography, Brych is more than a lawyer; he is a doctor of law.

He shows 6.3 yellow cards per match. This is "tailor-made" against the BiH national team, which is facing an epidemic of suspensions due to yellow cards.

Justice for the game of football

In the match between Lyon and Zenit, he showed seven yellow and two red cards. The last time he refereed a match was Italy vs. Norway for the European Championship, and that was without a single card. He also refereed the match Wales - Belgium, which the hosts won 1-0. He only gave two yellow cards then. So, when they want to, they can do without cards.

He refereed at the World Cup in Brazil, when our Dragons, despite the refereeing injustice, brought the greatest joy to the nation.

He has already faced accusations of favoring Sevilla in the Europa League final against Benfica, which the Spaniards won on penalties.

Football justice is being tested, just as it has been many times before. Football is the most important secondary thing in the world. It will definitely be the most important when referees stop being what they have been in football until now. So, can football referees make judgments?