Mark Shield

Mark Shield (born September 2, 1973) is an Australian Football referee. He currently referees in Australia's A-League. He first played soccer for the Silkwood Tigers at the age of six. Not showing much promise as a player, he began refereeing at age 12, and by 16 was officiating adult matches in Townsville. At age 28, he was selected to serve as a referee for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He was one of 23 referees selected to officiate the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[1] He currently lives in Fortitude Valley, Queensland.[2]

2002 World Cup

Shield served as an official at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. On June 10 2002 he officiated the 1-1 tie between Belgium and Tunisia. .[3]

2006 World Cup

Shield was selected to referee at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He officiated the Iran-Angola match and the Saudi Arabia-Tunisia match, both in group play.

Shield was also selected as one of the final 12 officials eligible to officiate the final eight matches of the Cup.[4] He was appointed the fourth official to the Portugal-France semi final.

Asian Champions League Final

In late 2006, Shield was appointed to referee the second leg of the AFC Champions League final between Al Karama (Syria) and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea) was played on Wednesday 8 November at the Khaled Bin Al Waleed Stadium. Jeonbuk Motors won the AFC Champions League after Brazilian striker Ze Carlo's 88th minute header gave them a 3-2 aggregate victory over Al Karama. Al Karama won the second leg of the final 2-1 but the Brazilian's late goal made the difference after the Koreans won the first leg 2-0.

Asian Cup 2007

Shield was appointed with fellow Australian referee Matthew Breeze to referee at the 2007 Asian Cup. Australia was the only country with more than one representative on the panel of referees for the tournament. While at the tournament, he was selected for a number of matches including the final between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, whilst Breeze was selected to referee a semi-final match. Both were fortunate that the Australian team were knocked out in the quarter finals because they would not have been able to referee matches involving or affecting their own country in the latter stages.

Hyundai Club Challenge

Shield received creditable reviews for his performance in the one-off game between Sydney FC and David Beckham's LA Galaxy at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on 27 November 2007 (the attendance of 80,295 is Australia's largest for a club game). In an exhibition match won 5-3 by the home team, Shield sent off LA Galaxy defender Kevin Harmse and also booked Beckham for a retaliatory lunge at Sydney's Robbie Middleby.

FIFA Club World Cup 2007

Shield officiated in the quarter final between Étoile Sportive du Sahel and Pachuca in front of 34,934 fans at the National Stadium, Tokyo. He was also named as the fourth official in the final between Boca Juniors and A.C. Milan.

A-League

Mark Shield is on the A-League Referees Panel and referees in this league on a regular basis.

External links

• FIFA profile
• Profile on ratetheref.net