An Italian architect, Nicolas Rizzoli, has been appointed as the centre referee for Wednesday’s final group clash between the Super Eagles of Nigerian and their Argentina counterparts in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Rizzoli had earlier refereed the goal flooded Netherlands versus Spain encounter on June 13.
Nicola Rizzoli has refereed a final in each of the two main European club competitions: Atletico Madrid-Fulham at the climax of the Europa League 2010 and the all-German decider between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League 2013.
In 2011, the Italian was selected for the FIFA Club World Cup, where he presided over two games, including Kashiwa Reysol-Santos in the semi-finals.
In 2012, Rizzoli was tasked with handling Spain-France in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2012.
Last year, he was in Turkey for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, where he took charge of two fixtures, including the quarter-final match Ghana-Chile.
Rizzoli said: “I’m just a normal man.
“I have a job.
“In my life away from football, I’m an architect.
“It’s not always easy to combine my job with refereeing because we have many games, many tournaments and many important matches.
“We have to judge many difficult situations, but we all share a great passion for football.
“We always try to do our best.”
Meanwhile Carlos Velasco will referee Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Iran, kicking off at the same time as the other Group F match.
The 43-year-old Spaniard, who refereed the Uruguay v. England match on June 19, has previously officiated at matches in the UEFA EURO 2012 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2013 among other competitions.
The match involving Honduras and Switzerland will be overseen by Nestor Pitana of Argentina, who refereed the Group H match between Russia and Korea Republic on June 17 when he celebrated his 39th birthday.
In his international career, Pitana managed the final match of the 2013 Copa Libertadores and three matches of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the same year.
The other match in Group E, Ecuador v. France, will kick off simultaneously and be officiated by Noumandiez Doue.
The 34-year-old of Côte d’Ivoire was the man in the middle for the match Australia v. Chile on January 13. Doue is the first referee.
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