William Ling (referee)

William Ling (* August 1, 1908, † May 8, 1984 ) was an English football referee.

William Ling was one of the world's best referee of the postwar period. The first highlight of his international career was the line of the final match of the Olympic Games in London in 1948 between Sweden and Yugoslavia. Sweden won the match at Wembley Stadium 3-1.

German football fans, he is known by the football World Cup in 1954 in Switzerland. He whistled both games between Germany and Hungary, the first group match, which lost mainly composed of reserve players German team with 3:8, and then the finale of Bern, which Germany won 3-2. He was the first and only to 2002 referees, who led a final at the Olympic Games and the World Cup. He was also a linesman in the quarter- final between Hungary and Brazil. The Hungarians won the overshadowing of hardships game with Battle of Berne described the English press, 4-2.

In the final of the Italian Vincenzo Orlandini, who had refereed the semi-final against Germany were Austria, and Benjamin Mervyn Griffiths from Wales the linesman. Shortly before the end Puskas scored a offside goal, the Griffiths had indicated during a radio reporter Zimmermann reported as off before the shot Puskas. Ling was no gate, so there was neither an equalizer and extension. English sources complained that German fans did not appreciate the Welsh Griffiths accordingly - in contrast to the Soviet linesman Tofiq Bəhramov that remains to them to this day by the much debated Wembley goal in mind.

1955 Ling was invited by the Soviet Football Federation to conduct the first friendly match between a team of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union. The game was the first attempt at rapprochement between the two states that had received no diplomatic relations at this time.