PRO Referee Mark Geiger was holding out hope that he might get placed in charge of Sunday’s World Cup Final, but FIFA has gone in a different direction.
Argentinian Nestor Pitana will officiate Sunday’s final between France and Croatia. He’s been the main referee for four matches in the World Cup so far, including the quarterfinal match between Uruguay and France.
He will be flanked by fellow Argentinians Hernan Maidana and Juan P. Belatti.
Geiger has been named as the VAR for Saturday’s Third Place Playoff between England and Belgium. Iranian Alireza Faghani will work that match as the lead referee.
Here are the referee assignments for the final two matches of the tournament:
World Cup Final
Referee: Nestor Pitana (ARG)
Assistant Referees: Hernan Maidana (ARG) and Juan P. Belatti (ARG)
Fourth Official. Bjorn Kuipers (NED)
Reserve Assistant: Erwin Zeinstra (NED)
Third Place Playoff
Referee: Alireza Faghani (IRN)
Assistant Referees: Reza Sokhandan (IRN) and Mohamed Mansouri (IRN) Fourth Off: Malang Diedhiou (SEN)
Reserve Assistant: Djibril Camara (SEN)
FIFA is not blind! Thank God Mark Geiger was not in charge of either the Final or the 3rd place game! If Geiger unfortunately did, We’d have seen a world record times of yellow and red cards issued in a World Cup Final/3rd place game. Not one ref from Concacaf deserves to be in charge of a World Cup! They all need to be re-trained and re-educated in Futbal refereeing.