Aussie referee appointed to AFC Asian Cup Final
Australian referee Mark Shield will add another prestigious honour to his lengthy tally of international appointments after it was announced that 33-year-old will control tomorrow’s AFC Asian Cup Final between Iraq and Saudi Arabia in Jakarta.
The Brisbane-based Shield has already refereed four previous matches in the tournament - Korea Republic vs Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia vs Indonesia, Indonesia vs Korea Republic (all group stage matches) and Iran vs Korea Republic (quarterfinal).
Shield is the only male Australian referee to officiate at two FIFA World Cup tournaments having debuting at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan with a match between Belgium and Tunisia. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Mark refereed the Group D match between Iran & Angola and the Group H match between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Shield was then appointed Fourth Official for the Round of 16 match between Brazil and Ghana, the Quarter Final match between Brazil and France and the Semi-Final between Portugal and France.
Early this year Mark picked up the Zurich Referee of the Year award as the top referee in the Hyundai A-League for the second time, which now sits next to the other Australian Referee of the Year Awards that he collected from the 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04 NSL seasons.
Australia was the only country to be represented by two referees at the AFC Asian Cup with Sydney-s Matthew Breeze appointed to several matches including Wednesday-s semi final between Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The recognition of Australian referees on the international stage has been significant in recent years with confirmation just last month that Australian Tammy Ogston will join an elite group that have appeared at three World Cups when she appears at September-s FIFA Women-s World Cup in China.
Mark Shield bio: 1999 - FIFA U-17 World Cup
2000 - UEFA U-17 Finals
2001 - FIFA U-20 World Cup
2002 - FIFA World Cup
2003 - FIFA Confederations Cup
2004 - AFC Asian Cup
2004 - UEFA World Cup Qualifiers
2005 - FIFA U-20 World Cup
2005 - FIFA U-17 World Cup
2005 - FIFA World Cup Qualifying Playoff (Trinidad & Tobago vs Bahrain)
2006 - FIFA World Cup
2007 - AFC Asian Cup