KYIV: Portugal may not have reached the Euro 2012 final but the country will be represented on the main stage in Kyiv on Sunday – Pedro Proenca having been chosen by UEFA to referee the game between Spain and Italy.
The 41-year-old will be the first Portuguese official ever chosen for the 14th final though he will be the 15th referee because a replay – with a changed official – was staged in 1968. No-one has ever refereed the final twice.
Pronca refereed the Champions League final in May which saw Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties. His assistants will be Bertino Cunha Miranda and Ricardo Jorge Ferreira Santos with Manuel Jorge Neves Moreira De Sousa and Duarte Nuno Pereira Gomes in the role of additional assistant referees.
The fourth officials and reserve assistant will be Turkey’s Cuneyt Cakir – who refereed’s the Spain-Portugal semi- final – and Bahattin Duran.
Proenca and his team have already overseen Spain’s 4-0 Group C win over the Republic of Ireland and Sweden’s 2-0 victory against France in Group D. They were also in charge at the England-Italy quarter-final, which the Azzurri won 4-2 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes.
European federation UEFA said that Proenca had been “on the rise in European refereeing circles” since officiating the European under-19 championship final in 2004.
Euro finals referees:
1960 Arthur Ellis (Eng). 1964 Arthur Holland (Eng). 1968 Gottfried Dienst (Swz); replay Ortiz de Mendibil (Sp). 1972 Ferdinand Marschall (Aus). 1976 Sergio Gonella (It). 1980 Nicolae Rainea (Rom). 1984 Vojtech Christov (Cz). 1988 Michel Vautrot (Fr). 1992 Bruno Galler (Swz). 1996 Pierluigi Pairetto (It). 2000 Anders Frisk (Swe). 2004 Markus Merk (Ger). 2008 Roberto Rosetti (It).
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