Gozo’s Joe Bajada was one of three foreign referees who joined the Italian colleagues to form the group of officials to control the matches of the VIVA World Cup 2009.

The matches were mainly controlled by Italian referees, except for two matches from the group stage that were controlled by Baker Seerwand Salman of Kurdistan and Per Anders Blind of Sweden.

Due to Joe Bajada’s experience in the sector, he was appointed for the matches from the final stages. Bajada made his debut as a fourth official in the delicate and decisive match from Group 1 between Padania and Kurdistan on Wednesday June 23 at Stadio Rigamonti of Brescia; a match between the best two sides in the tournament that also ended up contesting the final. Padania won this match 2-1, with the decisive goal arriving from a dubious penalty.

On this occasion, Bajada was called to make difficult interventions to control the situation on the touch line especially due to protests arrivng from the Kurdistan bench.

On the next day Bajada was the first assistant referee in the semi-final between Padania and Sapmi at Stadio Silvio Piola of Varese. Padania registered a comfortable 4-0 victory.

Joe Bajada left a positive impression and he was appointed once again as the first assistant referee for the match to determine the third and fourth place between Provence and Sapmi at Stadio Rigamonti of Brescia. The match ended in a dramatic draw of eight goals but Laponia ended third after a 5-4 win in the penalty shoot-out.

As a recognition of Bajada’s contribution and performances, he was honoured with an appointment to control the exhibition match before the final of the tournament at Stadio Bentegodi of Verona between a team of ex-professional players and a team formed of representatives from the community Shalom of Palazzolo sull’Oglio.

In a statement issued by Dott. Mario Mazzoleni, who was the president of the referees Commission for the VIVA World Cup 2009, Bajada was praised for his integration with the group, for his punctuality for the training and the technical meetings and also for his preparation in the technical knowledge.

Bajada was awarded a ‘very good’ standard rating and was recommended to the NF Board to be selected for the next edition of the VIVA World Cup.