Sprechen Ze English?

[But Referee]

http://sports.yahoo.com/wcs/news?slug=reu-worldrefereeslanguage&prov=reuters&type=lgns


English, the common language for World Cup referees

By Kevin Fylan

FRANKFURT, March 21 (Reuters) - English has become the official language of football, at least for the 44 referees hoping to officiate at the 2006 World Cup.
...

[chrisrun]

I wonder if they will have to use English if they use these communication devices as well.

"FIFA hopes to have a new communication system for refereeing teams in place in time for the 2006 World Cup."

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=2006-03-21T152735Z_01_L2138817_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SOCCER-WORLD-REFEREES.xml&archived=False

[vilafria]

Which Ze are you talking about , Ze Carlos or Ze Roberto ?

[Jeff L]

The requirement for all FIFA referees to speak English has been in for some years now. This isn't a "new thing" for the World Cup.

[billf]

The idea is to have a common language when officials from different countries work together and recieve instruction. That doesn't mean a crew from Italy can't speak Italian to eachother or to other players who also know that language.

[Jeff L]

Referees for the "Champions League" are all from the same country to enable the above to take place, but with the World Cup placing multi-national referees together, then English is the preferred choice. Lucky for the English refs!!!
If referees have the ability to speak other languages, as most European referees do, then they can converse in whatever is the easiest.
If you checked out the referees page for the "Euro 2004" championships, all the referees except Mike Riley (England) could speak at least one other language. Many had more than one.

[Claymore]

Too bad sign language doesn't count. :D