Former Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo was appointed as the new Head of the Referee Department within the Argentine Football Federation.
Horacio Elizondo refereed the final of the 2006 World Cup between France and Italy during which he sent-off Zinedine Zidane who head-butted Marco Matterazzi. After working as deputy secretary of state for sports affairs in the government of former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) and also as a media consultant, Elizondo was inducted boss of Argentine referees and presented to the press in the presence of Armando Pérez, the interim chairman of the AFA. Elizondo was surrounded by Angel Sanchez, who refereed at the 2002 World Cup and Marcelo Habib, current secretary of the Association of Argentine Referees. Hector Baldassi, a former Argentine referee at the 2010 World Cup, was also approached to accompany Elizondo, but this track has been abandoned, Baldassi serving as deputy of the province of Cordoba since December 2013 and could run again in 2017.
The appointment of Horacio Elizondo comes as SADRA, one of the two referees associations in Argentina, has launched a call to strike after one of their colleagues was violently assaulted during a fourth national division match. Guillermo Marconi, representative of the SADRA announced that "the members of his association will not referee the matches of 1st division, National B, First B, Federal A, B and C". This announcement came only a few days before the most explosive game of the year between River Plate and Boca Juniors to be played on Sunday. Diego Abal, the referee appointed to the match, belongs to the AAA (Association des Arbitres Argentinos). The latter has not yet expressed their intentions, but does not rule out joining the movement. His secretary, Federico Beligoy, said he was "in solidarity with SADRA. If we are to join the strike, we will go."
Source: Globo
