After administering the Brazil-Serbia clash on Wednesday, FIFA named Iran referee Alireza Faghani and his team to whistle the France-Argentina game in the knockout stage of the 2018 World Cup on Saturday.
Brazil defeated Serbia 2-0 with goals from Paulinho and Thiago Silva and stepped into the round of 16 AKA knockout stage.
With the rate of 4.81 at Ratetheref website, platform for rating referees, Faghani was atop the World Cup referees for his debut in the Germany-Mexico game on June 17, as his first experience as center referee at the global tournament.
And he remained atop the table until June 22 when the Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers edged him with 0.02 points, ISNA reported.
Kuipers went to the top after whistling Brazil-Costa Rica game. He previously judged the game between Egypt and Uruguay on June 15.
Mohammad-Reza Mansouri and Reza Sokhandan accompany Faghani as assistants in the games.
Faghani has referred to whistling at world cup final clash as his ultimate career dream. He has been selected to judge in the Round of 16. So there is a possibility his dream may come true in case he and his team continue their excellent work and get selected for the quarterfinal, semifinal and final games as well.
After becoming a FIFA referee in 2008, Faghani has moved up the ladder relatively fast, especially in Asia. After only one year of international experience, Faghani took charge of the 2009 AFC President’s Cup final. A year later he was in charge of a final but this time it was a much more important final in the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup where the winner qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
He was named the fourth referee for the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Brazil and Croatia. He also judged the 2014 AFC Champions League final first leg match. Also one of the officials of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, he judged his first match in Group B between Saudi Arabia and China.
