Collina to take charge of final

Four European referees will officiate Sunday's World Cup final between Brazil and Germany with Italy's Pierluigi Collina the …

Four European referees will officiate Sunday's World Cup final between Brazil and Germany with Italy's Pierluigi Collina the man in the middle.

FIFA sources said that Collina, instantly recognisable by his shaven skull and bulging eyes, will be assisted by linesmen Philip Sharp of England and Leif Lindberg of Sweden with Hugh Dallas of Scotland as the fourth offical.

Saturday's third-place play-off between South Korea and Turkey in Daegu, South Korea, will be officiated by four non-European referees the FIFA sources said.

They are Kuwait's Saad Mane as the main referee with Saudi Arabia's Ali Al Traifi and Canadian Hector Vergara as linesmen and Mexico's Felipe Ramos Rizo as the fourth official.

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The decisions were taken today at a FIFA meeting chaired by the federation's president Sepp Blatter.

Originally both matches were down to be run by European quartets, the FIFA sources said, with Sweden's Anders Frisk in charge of the Daegu match, but after a debate this was changed.

The standard of refereeing has been under attack at these finals with Italy and Spain in particular complaining of bias in favour of the South Korean co-hosts. Blatter has said that changes must be made in the way that referees are selected for World Cup matches with only the best being chosen instead of decisions being based on nationalities.