Fifa has cut nine refereeing teams from the 19 remaining teams after the quarter-finals. With the semi-finals announced yesterday, the number of games left to referee has shrunk to two, the final and third-place playoff. The announcement of these two games are expected after the semi-finals.
The retained referees are:
Benito Archundia, Mexico
Jerome Damon, South Africa
Frank De Bleeckere, Belgium
Ravshan Irmatov, Uzbekistan
Viktor Kassai, Hungary
Yuichi Nishimura, Japan
Pablo Pozo, Chile
Oscar Ruiz, Colombia
Marco Rodriguez, Mexico
Howard Webb, England
The referees cut from the squad:
Khalil Al Ghamdi, Saudi Arabia
Hector Baldassi, Argentina
Carlos Batres, Guatemala
Olegario Benquerença, Portugal
Michael Hester, New Zealand
Eddy Maillet, Seychelles
Carlos Simon, Brazil
Wolfgang Stark, Germany
Alberto Undiano, Spain
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
The best possible selection of neutral referees. The main candidates for the 2010 World Cup final are Archundia and Webb.
Irmatov, no doubt!
Do you really think that Irmatov will be appointed for the final after he would have already done a quarter-final and a semi-final??? That is impossible!
If he continues refereeing like he has done till now, it would be deserved.
But I doubt Fifa will hand him a quarter, semi and the final in one tournament. I believe handing him both a quarter and a semi is done to reward his good performance, and at the same time give him something to strive for the next couple of World Cups.
Yeps, that’s not possible…
Since in all probability the final will be between 2 European teams i feel that Archundia will be the Referee for the Final Match
I think your right. They will probably let Irmatov be 4th official. Damon will most likely get the 3rd place game.
How about Archundia referee and Webb 4th official for the final?
Its definitely possible but FIFA might want to showcase their young star one more time. Regardless Webb and Irmatov have great careers ahead of them. Webb has improved immensely since Euro 2008 and Irmatov has so much time to grow.
FIFA and UEFA for that matter have lost a number of excellent referees over the past few years. Its great to see younger referees like Webb, Irmatov and Kassai stepping up to fill the shoes.