FIFA has included several established referees in the 25-man nomination list for the World Cup in Brazil, including Howard Webb of England and Pedro Proenca of Portugal.
The world football governing body revealed Wednesday the match officials for the tournament and backed nine of the 10 referees it nominated for the 2013 Confederations Cup.
Argentinian Diego Abal is the only member of that group to miss out, with countryman Nestor Pitana replacing him.
Webb refereed the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands but received mixed reviews for his efforts in a bad-tempered match which included 14 yellow cards and a red card for Dutchman John Heitinga.
Proenca also has experience from major matches having taken charge of the Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy.
Both men have refereed a Champions League final, while Nicola Rizzoli of Italy is also on the list after being involved in last season’s all-German final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
“The referees selected for the World Cup in Brazil have been chosen based especially on their personality and their quality in football understanding by being able to read the game and the teams’ tactical approaches towards each game,” said the FIFA website.
The complete list of referees is : Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan), Yuichi Nishimura (Japan), Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain), Benjamin Williams (Australia), Noumandiez Doue (Ivory Coast), Bakary Gassama (Gambia), Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria), Joel Aguilar Chicas (El Salvador), Mark Geiger (US), Marco Rodriguez Moreno (Mexico), Enrique Osses Zencovich (Chile), Nestor Pitana (Argentina), Wilmar Roldan Perez (Colombia), Sandro Ricci (Brazil), Carlos Vera Rodriguez (Ecuador), Peter O’Leary (New Zealand), Felix Brych (Germany), Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey), Jonas Eriksson (Sweden), Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands), Milorad Mazic (Serbia), Pedro Proenca (Portugal), Nicola Rizzoli (Italy), Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain), Howard Webb (England).
