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The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named the best referee of 2006 Argentinian Horacio Elizondo. This referee officiated the final match of the World Cup between Italy and France on July 9, where he sent off French star Zinedine Zidane from the field. H. Elizondo became only the third referee from South America to win the IFFHS Best Referee award. He was the first referee in World Cup history to officiate both the opening and final matches. Additionally, the Argentinian refereed group stage matches between Czech Republic and Ghana, Switzerland and South Korea, as well as the quarterfinal match between England and Portugal. During the World Cup final, H. Elizondo found himself in a scandal when he sent off Z. Zidane for headbutting M. Materazzi, even though he did not witness the incident himself. He showed the red card after seeing a replay on the stadium's screen, informed by one of his assistants. In the IFFHS Best Referees ranking, Slovak Luboš Michel took the second place far behind H. Elizondo, followed by German Markus Merk. Top 10 Best Referees of 2006 according to IFFHS 1. Horacio Elizondo (Argentina) - 159 points; 2. Luboš Michel (Slovakia) - 69; 3. Markus Merk (Germany) - 60; 4. Benito Armando Archundia Tellez (Mexico) - 42; 5. Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain) - 26; 6. Jorge Luis Larriondo Pietrafesa (Uruguay) - 24; 7. Roberto Rosetti (Italy) - 19; 8. Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium) - 18; 9. Herbert Fandel (Germany) - 17; 10. Massimo Busacca (Switzerland) - 16.
