Roi Reinshreiber

Reinshreiber was born in Rehovot and, as of 2013, still lived there, coming from one of the city's founding families.[1] He is of partly Iraqi Jewish background.[2] Outside football, he built a career as an insurance agent in a family business that had existed for three generations.[2]

An active sportsman from a young age, Reinshreiber played handball, volleyball, football, and basketball.[1] He began refereeing at age 17 after friends introduced him to the profession, describing his motivation as wanting to turn his sporting hobby into something more serious.[1] He has spoken of regarding himself as "a sportsman in every respect," playing various sports when young before finding his destination in refereeing.[2]

Reinshreiber's first Premier League match came at age 27, when he refereed Hapoel Be'er Sheva against Maccabi Petah Tikva.[1] He went on to spend 14 years officiating at the top level of Israeli football.[3]

In 2016, the Referees Association's professional committee appointed him to referee the State Cup final between Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv — his first appointment to a cup final.[4] The committee cited his high refereeing ability, sustained effort, and contributions to the association and its reputation.[4]

In August 2020, UEFA promoted Reinshreiber to Category 1.[5] He had already refereed in both the Champions League and Europa League; that season he officiated one Champions League match in the second qualifying round, bringing his career total in that competition to four matches, and refereed one Europa League match that season and four in total in that competition.[5] In June 2023, he was appointed to referee the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match between Northern Ireland and Kazakhstan in Belfast, leading an Israeli officiating team that included assistants Dudu Biton and Sagiv Mitzmaber, fourth official Shnir Levi, and VAR officials Orel Grinfeld and David Fuxman.[6]

Reinshreiber retired from refereeing in May 2024 after a 27-year career, including 10 years as an international referee.[3] During his final two years he also worked in the Football Association's stadium-inspection department.[3]

In 2014, Reinshreiber refereed a Tel Aviv derby between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium.[7] The match was level at 1-1 when, in the 33rd minute, a Hapoel supporter jumped from the stands and attacked Maccabi midfielder Eran Zahavi, shortly after Zahavi had equalized with a penalty.[7] Zahavi kicked back at his attacker, and Reinshreiber showed him a red card.[7]

Play briefly resumed, but another pitch invasion occurred. Both teams went to their dressing rooms, and the match was abandoned.[7] The red card became a major public controversy. Reinshreiber later said he had regarded Zahavi's response as self-defense but considered the kick itself a violent act requiring dismissal under the rules.[8]

The disciplinary consequences were significant. The Israel Football Association deducted two league points from each Tel Aviv club and ordered bleachers at their shared stadium to be closed.[9] The terminated match was recorded as a 0:0 draw, with neither team receiving points for the game.[9][8]

Following his retirement from refereeing in May 2024, Reinshreiber was appointed team manager of Israel's senior national football team, replacing Benny Tabak and working alongside newly appointed coach Ran Ben Shimon.[3] The offer came after Ben Shimon contacted him about his future as an active referee and proposed the management role; after consulting his wife Sharon, Reinshreiber accepted, saying that "the national team comes above everything."[3] He had originally planned to spend one final season making an organized farewell tour of Israeli stadiums before the opportunity arose.[3]

At his appointment press conference, Reinshreiber said the offer surprised him because he had not expected it.[3][10] He said a young manager could create a strong connection between the players and staff, that he understood the complexities of the national-team environment, and that he trusted the professional staff around Ben Shimon.[3] A September 2026 report said Ben Shimon instructed Reinshreiber, in consultation with the physiological staff, to accommodate justified requests for private rooms when conditions allowed.[11]

The abandoned 2014 derby had a procedural legacy within the Referees Association. After reviewing the incident, the professional committee introduced a procedure requiring the full officiating team to consult during exceptional violent events before deciding how to proceed.[12]

Reinshreiber later described the derby as a formative episode that made him a better referee, saying he learned from the way the decision had been reached.[13] By his retirement in 2024, his 27-year career had included 14 years in the Israeli Premier League and 10 years as an international referee.[3]

On 5 November 2014, the Referees Association's professional committee reviewed the red-card incident with the officiating team for approximately three and a half hours.[12] It concluded that Reinshreiber had not made a refereeing error, while criticizing the process by which the decision had been reached. The committee said Zahavi should have withdrawn from the confrontation and done everything possible to avoid continuing it.[12]

Reinshreiber continued to defend the red card while acknowledging that the officials should have consulted before reaching their decision.[13] He summarized his position by saying that, as a football fan, he did not think Zahavi deserved a red card, but as a referee he knew that he did.[8] He later said there was no personal animosity between him and Zahavi.[13]