UEFA not to punish Kassai for error in Ukraine-England match

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is not to attribute any blame against the Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai, who did not count a goal shot by the Ukrainian national team against England during Euro 2012 match in Donetsk, on June 19, the UEFA representative Thomas Giordano said.

"There will be no consequences, except evaluation of the referee and his assistants, which is to be not as positive as it could be with counted goal," he said.

The representative noted that after each match the UEFA evaluates the judges on a 10-grade scale thus determining their rating after several matches. The quality of their work, of course, influences their rating.

"One mistake in a match is not a motive for the downgrade, only if there are several cases of poor referring during a few matches," he said. Giordano noted that the players often make different errors as well and no blames are attributed to them.

The UEFA representative also mentioned that the European association will not reconsider the scores of the Ukraine national team, which crashed out of the tournament after the match against England. "In general, the result of the game is not to be changed. The referee's decision is final," he said.

Giordano called an uncounted Ukrainian goal as a "factual error, which did not violate the rules of the game," noting that "this type of decision can not be changed."

As reported, in the 63rd minute, when the score was 1-0 in favour of England, Ukraine's forward Artem Milevsky led his team mate Marko Devic to the shooting position and the latter skilfully passed the rival's defender and shot, but England's defender John Terry kicked the ball out, although it could be seen on the video recording that the ball crossed the goal line. Officiating referee Viktor Kassai decided not to count the goal.

Finally, on June 19, England defeated Ukraine 1-0 and Ukraine crashed out of the championship.

The UEFA Head of Referees Pierluigi Collina has admitted that the team of referees headed by the Hungarian Viktor Kassai made a mistake during the Euro 2012 last group match between Ukraine and England by not counting the goal scored by Ukraine in the middle of the second half.