Abraham Klein (referee)
| Born |
29 March 1934 Timisoara, Romania |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Other occupation | PE Teacher | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1958–1984 | Israeli League | Referee | |
| 1977–1984 | NASL | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 1965–1982 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
Abraham Klein (Hebrew: אברהם קליין), (born 29 March 1934) is a Romanian-born Israeli former international football referee. He refereed international matches between 1965 and 1982, including the 1968 and 1976 Olympics and important matches at the Mexico 1970, Argentina 1978 and Spain 1982 World Cup Finals. He was also a linesman (now assistant referee) for the 1982 World Cup Final in Spain.
Klein refereed some of the most important FIFA World Cup matches between 1970 and 1982. In his first World Cup tournament in 1970 he refereed the England v Brazil group C match at Guadalajara - the defender of the title from 1966 against the champion of 1962 and 1958 (and finally again world champion 1970). Klein admitted that he tried, unsuccessfully, to end the game on time but no one heard him whistle so he kept the glamour tie going: "Not many people know, but when I blew for time the players didn't hear the whistle and as it was such a great game I let it continue for a few minutes."
Klein did not attend the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany due to the terrorist atrocity visited upon Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games held in Munich in 1972. Being an Israeli referee it was thought that he could be targeted by terrorist organisations.
Klein was selected for the 1978 World Cup where he was given the Argentina v Italy match in Group A in Buenos Aires.
In Klein's game Italy won with a Roberto Bettega goal but before half-time Klein denied Argentina a penalty kick. Klein said of the incident: "I analyzed all the players, which helped me to determine my tactics during the game. For example: towards the end of the first half, one of the Argentines went down in the penalty box and of course 80,000 people were whistling, screaming and crying for a penalty. I had learned from the previous games that I needed to be really close to the Argentinian players who caused the trouble. I am not telling you their names."
...
Wikipedia