Referee

There are few more hazardous occupations in world sport at the moment than being a referee in the Greek Cypriot football league with officials on the Mediterranean island having suffered six criminal attacks in a year. 

Cüneyt Çakır, Turkey’s highest ranked football referee, was hospitalized at the halftime of a Spor Toto Super League game in Ankara on Nov. 23 after he told one of his assistants that he could not breathe.

The head of referees in Greece's Central Refereeing Committee (KED) has stepped down, the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) said on Tuesday, four days after matches were suspended indefinitely following an attack on a KED official.

A judicial probe into alleged corruption in Greek soccer is entering its final phase, with 11 top officials due to give depositions to Court of First Instance deputy prosecutor Aristidis Koreas on September 15.

Former referee Hugh Dallas has been appointed as the head referee of the Greek Super League, the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 56-year-old Scot earned the position by a majority vote of the EPO's executive committee members.

Dallas will oversee the selection and assessment of referees as well as their appointments for matches.

He was born in Kuzguncuk, an old Istanbul neighborhood where the popular soap opera “Perihan Abla” was shot. When he was 10, he started playing football for Kartalspor. He was the striker. They were Istanbul champion in the junior league. They beat Fenerbahçe actually; he scored the goal. One day he fell and broke his arm.