© EuroFootball.com
Almost 90 thousand English fans in the stadium and 11 millionaires known worldwide on the football field had to obey the decisions of Lithuanian referees. The Lithuanian refereeing team had an extraordinary opportunity last Friday - to officiate a match at the legendary London "Wembley" stadium.
In 2014, the European zone qualifying matches of the FIFA World Cup for Group H became another historic event for our country's football referees. This was the first time since the Restoration of Independence that Lithuanians officiated for the England national football team and at such a prestigious stadium.
FIFA category referee Gediminas Mažeika, with assistants Vytautas Šimkus and Saulius Dirda, and reserve referee Sergejus Slyva, worked on the match between England and San Marino national teams on October 12. The match was watched by 86,645 spectators, and England won 5-0.
"The officiating went well. The only difficulty was that all the matches were going in one direction - towards San Marino's goal - and most of the time, 21 players were on one side of the field. I had to work hard to find the right position constantly," - G.Mažeika told LFF.lt.
The referee from Kaunas was delighted at the opportunity to officiate in the second-largest stadium in Europe, which was rebuilt five years ago and hosted the UEFA Champions League final in 2011.
"Wembley Stadium is impressive even when empty. It's hard to describe the feeling when it's full. After the match, many people asked me about the atmosphere, and I told them that if you don't feel satisfaction and pride while officiating there, perhaps you should seriously consider whether to continue working," - shared the referee. - Such an event is impossible to forget. I can confidently say that officiating at Wembley is every football referee's dream."
These were not the first matches for Lithuanian football referees in the homeland of football. Last year, G.Mažeika and his assistants officiated the UEFA Europa League group stage match in London between the local team "Tottenham Hotspur" and Dublin's "Shamrock Rovers" (Ireland).
"Our referees are trusted more and more. This is the result of long and hard work. Nobody appoints England national team matches for 'pretty eyes.' It requires officiating at various levels of matches for not one or two years. Appointments to matches are probably the best indicator of referees' evaluation," - said G.Mažeika.
Since 2008, a FIFA category football referee emphasized that he does not intend to rest on his laurels and will strive for new heights. "There are new challenges, and now I need to concentrate on them. Confidence in my abilities comes more from colleagues who work together, as well as great credit goes to the family. Because these are the people who are there when you need them the most," - said the representative of a profession that rarely receives public favor.
G.Mažeika and his colleagues will officiate international matches on November 8. These will be one of the UEFA Europa League group stage matches. Which teams the Lithuanians will officiate for will be revealed a week before their start.
