Dalibor Đurđević

The whole team moved to the UEFA Elite category and were invited to the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup in Turkey, where they were in charge of  two games: Columbia –Australia 1-1 (Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon, 22 June 2013) and Nigeria-Uruguay 1-2 at Türk Telekom Arena, Istanbul on 2 July 2013.

As a part of the Mažić referee team, he refereed the Germany vs. Portugal group stage match in Salvador da Bahia, in which Pepe headbutted Thomas Muller and was sent off and Germany won 4-0.[2]

The second game between Argentina vs. Iran (1-0) was their last at this championship. There was a lot of talk in the football and referee circles about Pablo Zabaleta’s tackle on Ashkan Dejagah in Argentina’s box after the 58’ minute.[3]

2014 World Cup, Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte: Argentina vs Iran

This World Cup was the team’s first and their greatest educational moment.[4]

Having been a part of the referee team in charge of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 return leg in March 2015 between Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, and the quarter-final first leg between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, they later refereed the Europa League semi-final return leg FC Dnipro vs SSC Napoli.[5][6][7]

In July 2015 the team was asked by the Egyptian FA to referee the country's biggest league Cairo derby between cross-town rivals Al Ahly and Zamalek.[8]

They were appointed in February 2016 to referee the UEFA Europa League knockout match between Manchester United and Liverpool at the Old Trafford Stadium in front of 75 180 people.[9]

UEFA Referees Committee appointed the Serbian referee team led by Mažić, to run matches at the Euro 2016 in France. The Serbian referee team was firstly appointed to referee the Republic of Ireland vs Sweden group stage match at the Stade de France in Paris on 13 June, which ended 1–1.[10]

They refereed the match on June, 17 in group D between Spain and Turkey at the Alianz Riviera in Nice which Spain won 3–0.[11]

In the next phase of the Cup, the Serbian team was appointed to run the Round of 16 match between Hungary and Belgium at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse, which the Belgians won 4–0.[12]

Fresh from officiating at UEFA EURO 2016, as a result of a great form, UEFA Referees Committee appointed Mažić, Ristić, and Đurđević to officiate the most prestigious assignment of their careers (as of that year). The 2016 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid CF and Sevilla FC at the Lerkendal Stadium in Trondheim, Norway, that Real won 3:2 after extra time.[13]

Đurđević referred to that match as one of the most demanding in his career, where the whole team had to make some big and hard decisions, like the 90th-minute goal from a “dead angle” that Real brought to extra time. All of them had to be made without the Video Assistant Referee (it wasn’t until next year when VAR was used in by UEFA).[4]

FIFA also gave credits to this referee team with the privilege and the responsibility to officiate the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Final between Chile and Germany,[14] played in Saint Petersburg on 2 July 2017. This was their first final with help of the VAR, which undoubtedly helped with a moment of controversy as Gonzalo Jara was judged to have elbowed Timo Werner in the face.[15]

On 26 May 2018, Mažić, Ristić and Đurđević refereed the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Kiev.[16]

As an Assistant referee, Đurđević had an important call - a double offside in the 43rd minute. A retired UEFA elite match official referee Eduardo Iturralde González in one of his interviews on the Spanish radio commented that the call was entirely because Benzema was slightly offside and so was Cristiano Ronaldo.[17]

This game symbolized the greatest success in the team’s career, as Djurdjevic reflected on in one of his interviews. It was the result of 25 years of hard work. The referee team’s performance was praised by Pierluigi Collina, the legend in the football referee circles and the head of UEFA referee committee at the time.[18]

As a crown of the team's career, The FIFA Referees Committee has selected Milorad Mažić, Ristić, and Dalibor Djurdjevic to be in the pool of 36 referees and 63 assistant referees for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

WC 2018 Brazil vs. Belgium, Kazan Arena

They were in charge of games between South Korea vs Mexico 1-2 (Rostov-on-Don, June 23), Senegal vs Colombia 0-1 (Samara, June 28), and quarterfinal between Brazil and Belgium 1-2 (Kazan, July 6).[19][20][21]

They were the first candidate for the final match, but since Croatia played in the finals, FIFA tried to avoid any controversy with the Serbian referee team doing this game. Many Croatian fans and sports journalists posted on social media and in various sports news outlets that they wouldn’t mind seeing Mažić, Ristić, and Đurđević in the Final and would choose them over Pitana’s team.[22]

Despite the fact that the team didn’t get to referee the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final, they were unofficially proclaimed by football fans and professionals one of the best refereeing teams of the tournament.[23]

The next big game was on October 16th, 2018 at Stade de France as France team came back from a goal down to beat Germany 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League.

Their appearance in Champions League play-offs was on where Benfica played with PAOK FC (1:1).[24]

In the group stage they were in charge of PSV Eindhoven vs Inter Milan (1:2), Manchester United FC vs. Juventus FC (0:1) and FC Barcelona vs Tottenham Hotspur FC (1:1) on December 11th 2018, what was their last CL game.[25][26][27]

On February 14th, 2019 Mažić, Ristić, and Đurđević were in charge of the Round of 32 game UEFA Europa League FC Zürich vs SSC Napoli (1:3), which was their final international appearance as a team.[28]

At the beginning of 2019 Mažić continued his professional carrier as the Chinese Football Association (CFA) referee, while Ristić and Đurđević became a part of the Saudi Professional League.

SAUDI PRO LEAGUE 2019 VAR: Viktor Kassai (HUN) and AVAR: Dalibor Đurđević (SRB)

Đurđević did around 30 games for the Saudi Professional League, some as an Assistant Referee, and some as a Video Assistant Referee (IFAB certified AVAR).[29]

Đurđević participated in 20 “Eternal Derbies” (a match between Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan) during his 10-year career as a Serbian SuperLiga referee. It’s the match that holds a special place in any Serbian football fan's, player's, and official’s heart, because of the long-standing rivalry between the two teams and the difficulty to officiate it that comes with it.[1][30]

Đurđević is actively involved in various referee mentorship and talent development programs in Serbia.[1]

Recently he initiated and spearheaded a campaign backed by the Football Association of Serbia to raise funds and help Serbian health system in the current fight against COVID-19 pandemic.[31]