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FIFA names World Cup referees
Europe and Latin America dominate the list of 23 referees chosen by FIFA on Friday for the World Cup in Germany.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:39 AM IST
Read Time:1 min
Zurich:
Europe and Latin America dominate the list of 23 referees chosen by FIFA on Friday for the World Cup in Germany. Germany's Markus Merk, Slovakia's Lubos Michel and England's Graham Poll were among 10 from Europe, joining seven referees from Latin America. FIFA evaluated the performance of 44 referees for the 32-nation tournament, with President Sepp Blatter calling the officials the "33rd team" for the June 9-July 9 showpiece. "The 23 referees who will be in action in Germany are currently the best match officials in the world," Blatter said. "That is the way it has to be as they will have a crucial role to play in this tournament and great demands will be placed on them". Twelve referees come from nations playing at the tournament, while several non traditional soccer countries like Benin, Singapore and Jamaica are represented. Qualifiers including the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden have missed out. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
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