Referee's decision is final, say FIFA

FIFA today moved to protect the authority of referees by announcing that any player who is sent off will have to serve an immediate one-match ban with no right of appeal.

The ruling, announced today by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, will be enforced in every league in world.

The ruling is aimed at protecting match officials after several cases in which referees’ decisions have been undermined. It is understood that Alan Shearer’s successful appeal against a red card for elbowing Charlton’s Jon Fortune in December last season was one of the cases which have caused FIFA’s rethink.

After referee Andy D’Urso reviewed the incident, all punishment was rescinded but under the new rules Shearer would have had to serve at least a one-match ban. A more recent incident occurred in the Swiss league this season where Grasshoppers goalkeeper Fabrice Borer was sent off for fouling Basle striker Herve Tum but afterwards the Swiss disciplinary chief rescinded the red card.

Blatter told a news conference in Zurich: "A referee’s decision has no space for speculation. A player expelled by the referee has to serve a one-match suspension immediately. If people start casting doubt on the referee they start casting doubt on football."

"The Swiss league is not the only one which has more or less disregarded the referee’s decision. There have been some cases in the Spanish league and in England as well.

"If a player commits a foul and is sent off then no scientific evidence, whether cameras or other, shall change this decision."