Football. Here are the 5 best referees in the world, according to the British press: A French gift

It’s a rating that should be talked about a lot on the planet Football. British specialist site Ruck.co Enjoy rating Top 5 best rugby referees in the world. We found 2 English, 1 New Zealander, 1 Australian and… 1 French, in last place of this top five.

1 – Luke Pearce (England)

At the head of the ranking of the best rulers is the British site tuck He puts (logically) an Englishman. that it Luke Pearce (35 years). After playing rugby until Junior, he turned to refereeing to continue his passion for the sport. He quickly rose through the ranks, “became the youngest referee in the National Committee of the Russian Rugby Union (England Rugby Union) in 2009,” English media confirms.

In 2011, Pearce was officiating his first Premier League match between Gloucester and Worcester, while his first international test came in 2013 when he officiated the Romania-Russia match in the UEFA European Championship. The following year, he made his Six Nations debut. In 2019, during the World Cup in Japan, he also led 3 matches as a central referee: Wales-Georgia, South Africa-Canada and New Zealand-Italy.

2 Angus Gardner (Australia)

In second place we find the Australian Angus Gardner (38), was named the best referee in the world in 2018. He started whistling at the age of 15, following a back injury.

He officiated his first test match in 2016. However, his highlight was refereeing between France, Argentina, Japan, Ireland, Wales and Uruguay in the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

3 – Wayne Barnes (England)

The platform was completed by the Englishman Wayne Barnes (44) One of the most famous referees on planet rugby. He has refereed matches of the World Cup, Six Nations Championship and Rugby Championship. On 5 November 2022, Wayne Barnes took charge of the Wales-New Zealand game during the Autumn Nation Series, 100^H international game As a referee, he tied the record previously set by Nigel Owens.

Born in Gloucestershire, he started playing rugby at the age of 8, before becoming a referee 7 years later. Since then, he has quickly become a regular referee in the Premier League and European Cup. Internationally, Wayne Barnes continues to “break records and inspire many in refereeing,” and this is justified Ruck.co.

4 – Ben O’Keefe (New Zealand)

nz Ben O’Keefe He (34) began refereeing at the age of 19, and became a professional referee in 2013. He made his international debut at the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup, refereeing Fiji Tonga. Just a year later, he also oversaw his first Six Nations match.

Today, he officiates regularly in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby Championship and was the youngest referee at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan officiating matches between Australia, Fiji, France v USA and Japan v Scotland.

5 – Mathieu Raynal (France)

The Frenchman is still part of the foray into world refereeing, according to British media outlet Ruck. This is Catalan Mathieu Raynal (41), who will be the only tricolor central referee in the 2023 World Cup in France. In France, Mathieu Raynal will head the 3^H Time in the World Cup, after the 2015 trials in England and 2019 in Japan.

But this time the World Cup will necessarily have a “special” team for the Perpignan native. Emotionally, you will be stronger. Then I had the chance to see all the stadiums,” he said Rugby News. Before specifying with a small smile: “On the other hand, the format of the competition, the intensity of the matches, does not change anything: whether you are in France or in Japan, it is the same.”

The first test match directed by Mathieu Raynal was a meeting between Malta and the Netherlands in 2008 during the UEFA European Championship, with his first Tier 1 match coming in 2012, an autumn test between Scotland and Tonga. The Catalan has supervised 36 test matches so far.

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