Miroslav Stupar

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Miroslav Stupar (born August 27, 1941) is a former Soviet football referee.

He is best remembered for his officiating of the 1982 World Cup game between France and Kuwait in Valladolid in Spain. France were leading 3-1 when their midfielder Alain Giresse broke through to score a fourth goal. The Kuwaiti players protested, claiming that they had stopped playing because they had heard a whistle from the crowd and thought it was the referee blowing.

During a delay of some 15 minutes, it appeared at one stage that Kuwait's players were going to walk off the field, culminating in the president of the Kuwait FA, Sheikh al-Sabah (who was later killed in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990), leaving his seat in the stadium's VIP box and coming onto the pitch to talk to them.

Meanwhile, Stupar had changed his mind and disallowed Giresse's goal. The game eventually resumed with France still 3-1 ahead. A few minutes later, they scored once again, through defender Maxime Bossis. This one was allowed to stand by Stupar and France ended up winning 4-1.

In all, Stupar disallowed five goals by France during the match, most of them for offside-related infringements.

[edit] References

• (German) Profile