Ivan Eklind

Eklind (center) together with Giampiero Combi (left) and František Plánička (right) before the 1934 World Cup final

Ivan Henning Hjalmar Eklind (born October 15, 1905 in Stockholm , † July 23, 1981 ) was a Swedish football referee , who came into the public eye, particularly through his work at the 1934 World Cup in Italy , his first of three World Cup participations.

World Championship 1934

At the 1934 World Cup, Eklind first whistled the round of 16 between Switzerland and the Netherlands , which ended 3-2. In the semifinals he was used in the match between Italy and Austria , together with linesmen Louis Baert ( Belgium ) and Bohumil Ženíšek ( Czechoslovakia ). The game in Milan’s San Siro ended 1-0 for the World Cup hosts. The decisive goal was scored by Enrique Guaita ; However, the winning goal was preceded by a foul by Giuseppe Meazza on goalkeeper Peter Platzer , which Eklind had not punished : he maneuvered the goalkeeper and the already caught ball with a body kick over the goal line. Eklind prevented the Austrians from scoring by headed the ball away.

Despite - or because of - this performance, Eklind was allowed to whistle the final in Rome between Italy and Czechoslovakia . Again the Belgian Baert was on one of the lines; on the other side stood the Hungarian Mihály Iváncsics . In this endgame, too, Eklind is said to have made some questionable decisions; the Czechoslovaks received no penalty after Eraldo Monzeglio fouled Antonín Puč in the penalty area; Italy won 2-1 after extra time and were world champions for the first time.

After the 1934 World Cup, there were allegations that Eklind had been bribed by the Italian hosts. Before the semi-final against Austria, he was the guest of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini . However, the allegations not only hit Eklind, but also other World Cup referees such as the Belgian Louis Baert and the Swiss René Mercet .

Further career

Eklind was also in action at the 1938 World Cup in France . Here, in the first round, he led the match between Brazil and Poland ( 6-5 after extra time) and Switzerland's 4-2 victory in the replay against the team from the German Empire . In the quarter-final match between the reigning world champions and later successful defending champions Italy against hosts France ( 3-1 ), he was assistant to Louis Baert as linesman.

In 1950 in Brazil , he led the group game between Switzerland and Mexico , which Switzerland won 2-1.

Web links

• Ivan Eklind in the weltfussball.de database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oliver Noelle: The little dictionary of football records. Munich 2006, ISBN 3-426-77828-9 , p. 58
2. ↑ cf. Marco Impiglia: 1934 FIFA World Cup: Did Mussolini rig the Game ?, in: Stefan Rinke / Kay Schiller (ed.): The FIFA World Cup 1930-2010. Politics, Commerce, Spectacle and Identities, Wallstein Verlag Göttingen, 2014, 408 pages, 39.90 euros, pp. 66–84.