Charles George Reinier Corver (16 January 1936 – 10 November 2020) was a Dutch football referee.[1]
He was decorated twice by the Queen (Order of Orange-Nassau) and the football association (KNVB-UEFA-FIFA).
He refereed the 1982 World Cup semifinal between Germany and France in Seville, Spain, when he deemed goalkeeper Harald Schumacher's collision with Patrick Battiston to be not a foul.[2] Battiston remained unconscious for over a minute and sustained the loss of three teeth and a damaged vertebrae.This failure is often considered as one of the worst examples of poor refereeing decisions in football.[3]
Corver was referee at two World Cups and two European championships. He refereed four European Cup finals, ten semifinals and a final World Cup for clubs in Argentina. More than 140 international matches and more than 600 national matches. After his last final (1983) in Portugal he was observer for UEFA-FIFA and KNVB for 22 years and member of the disciplinary committee for sixteen years. His profession was national sales manager at Heineken.