FIFA retains SA referee for quarter-final matches

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Pretoria - South African referee, Jerome Damon, is among the 19 out of the 29 referee trios who has been retained for the quarter-final games by the FIFA Referees Committee.

Damon was retained with his two assistant referees, Celestin Ntagungira from Rwanda and his native countryman, Enock Molefe.

During the group stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he refereed the crucial Group E match between Denmark and Japan at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on June 24.

On Saturday, when Germany takes on Argentina at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, Damon will be a fourth official, while Molefe will be a reserve assistant referee.

Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov, has been chosen to referee the heavy-weight quarter-final match and will be assisted by Rafael Ilyasov from Uzbekistan and Bahadyr Kochkorov from Kyrgyzstan.

Tomorrow's crunch clash between Brazil and the Netherlands at Nelson Mandela Bay will be handled by the Japanese referee, Nishimura Yuichi. Sagara Toru from Japan and Jeong Hae Sang will be the assistant referees for this match.

Portuguese BenQuerenca Olegario will be refereeing the match between Ghana and Uruguay. Olegario will be working with his two countrymen, Cardinal Jose and Miranda Bertino on the match.

The referee of the match between Spain and the South American team, Paraguay, will be Batres Carlos from Guatemala and FIFA Referees Committee named Leal Leonel from Costa Rica and Pastrana Carlos of Honduras as assistant referees.