Nicola Rizzoli to referee Final

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Germany and Argentina contested the final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy™ and an Italian referee will officiate as the same countries meet in the 2014 decider. Nicola Rizzoli, a 42-years-old an architect from Bologna, has already refereed three matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, taking charge of Spain-Netherlands and Nigeria-Argentina in the group stages and the quarter-final between Argentina and Belgium.

Rizzoli started his international career in 2007, going on to referee the final in each of the two main European club competitions. He was the man in the middle for Atletico Madrid-Fulham at the climax of the 2010 UEFA Europa League, followed by the all-German decider between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 UEFA Champions League.

In 2011, the Italian was selected for the FIFA Club World Cup, where he presided over two games. In 2012, Rizzoli was tasked with handling Spain-France in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2012 and two more matches during the same competition. Last year, he was in Turkey for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, where he took charge of two fixtures.

Rizzoli will be assisted by his compatriots Renato Faverani and Andrea Stefani, who are both 44 years old. The fourth official will be Carlos Vera from Ecuador. Nicola Rizzoli will be the third Italian referee in the history of the FIFA World Cup to officiate a final, following in the footsteps of Sergio Gonella in 1978 and Pierluigi Collina in 2002.

Referee designations for matches 33-36

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FIFA has announced the referees for the FIFA World Cup™ matches 33 to 36, the final matches in the preliminary round for Groups A and B.

Proceedings in the match Cameroon v. Brazil will be overseen by Jonas Eriksson, the 40-year-old referee from Sweden. He has already refereed the Group G match between Ghana and the USA in this competition. In previous years, Eriksson has overseen two matches at UEFA EURO 2012 and in the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying stages he was selected to referee the second leg of the CONMEBOL/AFC play-off.

The other match in Group A, Croatia v. Mexico, will kick off simultaneously. It will be officiated by Ravshan Irmatov, 36 years old and the first Uzbek national to referee at the finals of a FIFA tournament to date. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, he refereed five matches, including the opening match between South Africa and Mexico, Argentina v. Germany in the quarter-finals and the semi-final encounter between Uruguay and the Netherlands. Earlier in the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, Irmatov took charge of the match Switzerland v. Ecuador.

The match Australia v. Spain – the last for both teams in this competition – will be refereed by Nawaf Shukralla who is 37 years old and from Bahrain. For Shukralla it will be the first match of the tournament. He was selected for his first FIFA competition in 2011, the U-17 World Cup. Since then he has handled games at the FIFA Club World Cup 2012 and the U-20 World Cup 2013.

Match 36 will be the decider in Group B. The Netherlands and Chile both won their first two matches and will be vying for first place. The game will be overseen by Bakary Gassama, 35 years old and the first referee from the Gambia to appear in the FIFA World Cup™. It will be the tournament debut for Gassama, who officiated two matches at the Olympic Football Tournament 2012 and can also list games at the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2013 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2013 on his CV.

Referee designations for matches 12-14

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FIFA has announced the referees for FIFA World Cup™ matches 12-14.

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.

Germany against Portugal will be refereed by Milorad Mazic from Serbia. He is 41 years old and worked at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2013 and at several UEFA competitions.

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.