Hungarian 1994 World Cup final referee dies aged 65
Hungarian referee Sandor Puhl, who refereed the 1994 World Cup final, has died age 65, the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ) said Thursday.
Puhl, who also was a referee at the 1997 Champions League final, was voted the world's top referee four years in a row between 1994 and 1997 by the International Federation of Football Statisticians.
Calling him "enormously talented", the Hungarian Football Association said Puhl began his refereeing career in 1984.
He presided over the 1994 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy in Los Angeles, which Brazil won on a penalty shootout, as well the 1997 Champion League final in which Borussia Dortmund beat Juventus.
In recent years, Puhl had worked as the vice president of the MLSZ's refereeing committee, the association said.
In a 2014 interview with Nemzeti Sport online, Puhl said a referee's mission was "to entertain the spectator as much as possible".
"For a referee, what's really uplifting is when he feels he's been able to make a match better with his judgements," he said , adding that only those who could give up their egos should become officials.
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