Six African referees for 2006 World cup

Accra, Feb 8, GNA - Six African referees have been appointed by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to officiate in the 2006 World Cup, scheduled for Germany next year.

Among them are Beninoise national Coffi Codjia and Abdel Fata Essam El-Deen from Egyptian.

The other Africans on the list are Daami Mourad of Tunisia, Jerome Damon from South Africa Mohamed Guezah of Morocco and Gambian national Modou Sowe.

The six Africans are among the list 46 referees selected across the world by FIFA for the football fiesta in Germany.

The selected referees have for the past years, gained enviable records in refereeing on the continent and are noted, for officiating high profile matches across the continent.

All the appointed referees were very regular in the 2004 CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup competitions. The appointed referees are scheduled to participate in a workshop in Frankfurt, Germany between February 12 - 16 to raise their standards, so that they perform excellently in their matches during FIFA's flagship event.

According to information gathered by the GNA Sports, the workshop will also take the referees thorough medical check ups and a number of theoretical and practical training sessions.

The information indicates that, the 46 candidates will also participate, as match officials in various FIFA competitions through 2005, and will be observed and assessed on their performances, at international and domestic level.

FIFA is expected to name the final list of referees for the competition by the first quarter of 2006 before the world cup commences in the same year in June.

UEFA, the football governing body in Europe has the highest number, with 18 referees on the 46-man list. Notable among them are Markus Merk of Germany, Claus Bo Larsen from Denmark, Anders Frink from Sweden and Lubos Michael from Slovakia.

They are closely, followed by the football governing body in South America with eight referees, whilst Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has the lowest number of appointees, just two.

Africa shares the third position with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF with six referees each.