Valentin Ivanov (footballer Born 1961)

Valentin Ivanov (footballer Born 1961)

Valentin Valentinovich Ivanov (Russian: Валентин Валентинович Иванов) (born July 4, 1961 in Moscow) is a Russian international football referee and a former player. The son of two Olympic champions of 1956, Valentin Ivanov and Lidiya Ivanova, he lives in Moscow where he works as a physical education teacher.

As a player, he reached the final of the Soviet Cup in 1983.

He speaks Russian and English and has been an international referee since January 1, 1997. The first international game he refereed was Luxembourg–Poland in 1999. Before his qualification he served as an assistant referee and officiated 3 games in the 1994 World Cup.

He refereed the 2005 U20 World Cup in the Netherlands, the Euro 2004 in Portugal and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup in France.

In 2005, he officiated the World Cup qualifiers between Wales and England, and Sweden and Iceland. Both England and Sweden qualified, and were drawn in the same group in the World Cup proper. He was also selected to referee the UEFA Champions League semifinal match between Villarreal and Arsenal in 2005–06 season. This match will be remembered for a dubious penalty awarded in the final minute of play, for a 'push' by Gaël Clichy of Arsenal, although replays show that there was minimal contact. However, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann saved Juan Román Riquelme's penalty, and Arsenal progressed to the final, where they lost 2 - 1 to Barcelona.

In Euro 2004, he officiated in 3 games, issuing 15 yellows and 1 red. He ended the tournament as the fourth most-harsh referee, brandishing an average of 5.33 cards a game (Manuel González (Spain), Urs Meier (Switzerland), and Lucilio Batista (Portugal) each racked up 10 cards per game).