FIFA World Cup 2014 – Group Stage (Matches 15-17)

Marco Rodriguez (photo) from Mexico will oversee the Belgium-Algeria game. Rodriguez is 40 years old and will be taking part in his third World Cup, having handled a total of four games at the 2006 and 2010 editions. He has also officiated at three FIFA U-17 World Cups, one FIFA U-20 World Cup and five editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. At club level, he has refereed two CONCACAF Champions League deciders and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup 2007.

Nestor Pitana from Argentina will officiate Russia-Korea Republic on his 39th birthday. Pitana’s international career began in 2010, just three years after he made his refereeing debut in the Argentinian top tier. He can also boast a final match of the 2013 Copa Libertadores and three matches of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the same year on his curriculum.

Brazil-Mexico will be overseen by Cuneyt Cakir, who is 37 and the second Turkish referee to participate in the World Cup, 40 years after Dogan Babacan officiated at Germany 1974. In his career, Cakir has refereed several important matches including the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2012, a 2014 World Cup preliminary play-off and a semi-final of UEFA Euro 2012.

17 June 2014
Belgium – Algeria
Referee: Marco Rodriguez (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Marvin Torrentera (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcos Quintero (MEX)
Fourth Official: Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Reserve AR: Hassan Kamranifar (IRN)

Russia – Korea
Referee: Néstor Pitana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Hernan Maidana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Belatti (ARG)
Fourth Official: Roberto Moreno (PAN)
Reserve AR: Eric Boria (USA)

Brazil – Mexico
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR)
Fourth Official: Svein Moen (NOR)
Reserve AR: Kim Haglund (NOR)

FIFA World Cup 2014 – Group Stage (Matches 12-14)

Germany against Portugal will be refereed by Milorad Mazic (photo) from Serbia. He is 41 years old and worked at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2013 and at several UEFA competitions.
Nine days before his 38th birthday, Carlos Vera from Ecuador will referee Iran-Nigeria. Vera has been overseeing international matches since 2007 and has officiated at several CONMEBOL competitions, including the Copa America 2011 and the Copa Libertadores since 2008, as well as at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2012.
Ghana-USA is the second match in Natal and will be covered by Jonas Eriksson, 40, from Sweden. He officiated two matches at UEFA Euro 2012 and the second leg of the CONMEBOL/AFC play-off between Uruguay and Jordan in November 2013.

16 June 2014
Germany – Portugal
Referee: Milorad Mazic (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristic (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor Djurdjevic (SRB)
Fourth Official: Néant Alioum (CMR)
Reserve AR: Djibril Camara (SEN)

Iran – Nigeria
Referee: Carlos Vera (ECU)
Assistant Referee 1: Christian Lescano (ECU)
Assistant Referee 2: Byron Romero (ECU)
Fourth Official: Wilmar Roldan (COL)
Reserve AR: Humberto Clavijo (COL)

Ghana – USA
Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mathias Klasenius (SWE)
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel Warnmark (SWE)
Fourth Official: Norbert Hauata (TAH)
Reserve AR: Marwa Range (KEN)

FIFA World Cup 2014 – Group Stage (Matches 9-11)

Switzerland-Ecuador will be officiated by Ravshan Irmatov from Uzbekistan. The 36-year-old is taking part in his second FIFA World Cup, having overseen five matches at the 2010 edition, including the opener between South Africa and Mexico, Argentina-Germany in the quarter-finals, and the semi-final encounter between Uruguay and the Netherlands. Irmatov (photo) has refereed at ten FIFA competitions overall. Most recently, he took charge of Brazil-Italy at the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013. 

Referee for the second Group E game between France and Honduras will be Sandro Ricci from Brazil. He was the ‘Referee of the Year’ in his home country in 2010 and joined FIFA’s international list in 2011. In 2013, he oversaw four FIFA U-20 World Cup fixtures as well as a quarter-final and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco. 

Argentina against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the first match taking place at the Maracana, will be refereed by Joel Aguilar from El Salvador. In doing so he will become the first referee from his country to officiate at the finals of a World Cup. Aguilar, 38, covered the CONCACAF Gold Cup final in 2011 and 2013 as well as the CONCACAF Champions League in 2011.

15 June 2014

Switzerland – Ecuador
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)
Assistant Referee 1: Abduxamidullo Rasulov (UZB)
Assistant Referee 2: Bakhadyr Kochkarov (KGZ)
Fourth Official: Svein Moen (NOR)
Reserve AR: Kim Haglund (NOR)

France – Honduras
Referee: Sandro Ricci (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Emerson Carvalho (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Fourth Official: Peter O’Leary (NZL)
Reserve AR: Jan Hintz (NZL)

Argentina – Bosnia
Referee: Joel Aguilar (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: William Torres (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: Juan Zumba (SLV)
Fourth Official: Djamel Haimoudi (ALG)
Reserve AR: Redouane Achik (MAR)

Nishimura defended by FIFA

FIFA have defended under-fire referee Yuichi Nishimura for his decision to award a penalty in favour of Brazil during the World Cup-opening 3-1 victory over Croatia that has sparked a massive backlash from the European side. Manager Nico Kovac claimed that “two billion people saw it was not a penalty” while squad members Vedran Corluka and Dejan Lovren were equally as scathing, suggesting that Fifa should hand Brazil the trophy now and “everyone else can go home”. But FIFA’s referee chief Massimo Busacca has come to the defence of Nishimura (photo), claiming that there was contact between Fred and Lovren even if it was minimal.

“The referees know the responsibility at the World Cup is a lot, every decision can change a lot,” said Busacca. “In refereeing, we have black and white but we also have cases that can be on the borderline. Yesterday [Thursday], we can discuss; was it enough (contact)? Yes or no? On the pitch, the referee takes a decision in less than one second. He is concentrated on the gesture and when you see the hands doing something, it's difficult to arrive at one conclusion. This is what the referee saw on the pitch, he had a good position, but he is not the attacker or the defender, we have to ask them if it's enough (contact) to fall down. There was contact, if you don't have the contact then we would not be here to discuss it. If the player doesn't touch, doesn't hold, we don't discuss it. The left hand touched and then also the right. If you play with the hands out, the referee sees that clearly and decides one way.” Busacca went on to leave doubt over whether Nishimura would be selected again when the next batch of refereeing appointments are released, with FIFA choosing to name each set of match officials in the days leading up to a fixture. He added that Nishimura’s performance would be evaluated before a decision is made, and that anyone can say that the Japanese official made a mistake given that it is their opinion. “For every player, we can consider their performance and how they did - for referees it is the same,” he added. ”Mistake? It's your opinion, you can say it if you want”. 

Source: The Independent

FIFA World Cup 2014 – Group Stage (Matches 5-8)

Colombia-Greece will be officiated by US referee Mark Geiger (photo), who is 39. He supervised his first international in 2008 and was in charge for two finals in 2011: Costa Rica-Mexico in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship and Brazil-Portugal at the climax of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia. That same year, Geiger was named Major League Soccer Referee of the Year.

Enrique Osses will cover the Côte d'Ivoire-Japan contest. Osses, 40 and from Chile, became an international referee in 2005 and has handled the return leg of each of the last two title-deciders of the Copa Sudamericana. 

The Uruguay-Costa Rica game has been assigned to Felix Brych from Germany (38). He has refereed UEFA Champions League matches since 2008 and most recently led the 2014 UEFA Europa League final. In 2013, he handled Japan-Mexico in the FIFA Confederations Cup. 

The referee for England's showdown with Italy will be Bjorn Kuipers from the Netherlands. The 41-year-old has already supervised six international finals in his career including Brazil-Spain at the Maracana during the last FIFA Confederations Cup and most recently this year's UEFA Champions League decider in Lisbon.

14 June 2014 

Colombia – Greece
Referee: Mark Geiger (USA)
Assistant Referee 1: Sean Hurd (USA)
Assistant Referee 2: Joe Fletcher (CAN)
Fourth Official: Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Reserve AR: Hassan Kamranifar (IRN)

Uruguay – Costa Rica
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mark Borsch (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Lupp (GER)
Fourth Official: Víctor Carrillo (PER)
Reserve AR: Rodney Aquino (PAR)

England – Italy
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Sander Van Roekel (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Erwin Zeinstra (NED)
Fourth Official: Walter Lopez (GUA)
Reserve AR: Leonel Leal (CRC)

Cote d’Ivoire – Japan
Referee: Enrique Osses (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Astroza (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Sergio Roman (CHI)
Fourth Official: Neant Alioum (CMR)
Reserve AR: Djibril Camara (SEN)

Bennett sent home due to injury

After an injury prevented assistant referee Ravinesh Kumar (FIJ) to run the fitness test, another selected match official was forced to miss the 2014 World Cup. Daniel Bennett (RSA) suffered an injury during the training session on 3 June 2014 in Brazil. The medical team estimated that the recovery will take about 4 weeks, so FIFA decided to send him home. Bennett (photo) was appointed as a reserve referee in an African support duo along with the assistant Marwa Range (KEN). The South African referee was originally assigned fourth official duties. After Bennett was sent home, Range joined referee Norbert Hauata (TAH) in a new support duo, replacing Mark Rule (NZL), who was moved to the New Zealand trio, after Kumar’s injury.

FIFA World Cup 2014 – Group Stage (Matches 1-4)

Japan’s Yuichi Nishimura has been assigned as the referee for the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Brazil and Croatia on Thursday, 12 June. He will be assisted by compatriots Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi, with Alireza Faghani of Iran designated as the fourth official. Nishimura, 42, is set to become the third Japanese referee to have officiated at two World Cup finals after Shizuo Takada (1986 and 1990) and Toru Kamikawa (2002 and 2006). At South Africa 2010 he handled four matches, including the quarter-final encounter between the Netherlands and Brazil. Since making his international refereeing debut in 2004, Nishimura has been assigned to numerous other final tournaments: the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007 (including the final between Spain and Nigeria), the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009, the FIFA Club World Cup 2010 (including the final between TP Mazembe and Internazionale), the Olympic Football Tournament 2012 and two editions of the Asian Cup in 2007 and 2011. In addition, Nishimura was selected for the finals of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2008. In 2012, Yuichi Nishimura (photo) was named AFC Men’s Referee of the Year.

12 June 2014
Brazil – Croatia
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (JPN)
Assistant Referee 1: Toru Sagara (JPN)
Assistant Referee 2: Toshiyuki Nagi (JPN)
Fourth Official: Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Reserve AR: Hassan Kamranifar (IRN)

13 June 2014
Mexico – Cameroon
Referee: Wilmar Roldan (COL)
Assistant Referee 1: Humberto Clavijo (COL)
Assistant Referee 2: Eduardo Diaz (COL)
Fourth Official: Norbert Hauata (TAH)
Reserve AR: Marwa Range (KEN)

Spain – Netherlands
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Renato Faverani (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Andrea Stefani (ITA)
Fourth Official: Svein Moen (NOR)
Reserve AR: Kim Haglund (NOR)

Chile – Australia
Referee: Noumandiez Doue (CIV)
Assistant Referee 1: Songuifolo Yeo (CIV)
Assistant Referee 2: Jean Birumushahu (BDI)
Fourth Official: Roberto Moreno (PAN)
Reserve AR: Eric Boria (USA)