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Changing of the guard
Moroccan to be first African to referee World Cup final
Posted: Thursday July 09, 1998 07:10 PM
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Belqola has refereed two first round matches without sending a player off (AP) |
PARIS (Reuters) -- Morocco's Said
Belqola will become the first African to referee a World Cup final when he
takes charge of Sunday's match between Brazil and France.
The 41-year-old father of four is a customs official from Fez who has
refereed two first round matches -- Argentina-Croatia and Germany-United
States -- without sending a player off. A speaker of French
and English as well as Arabic, he handed out seven yellow cards in the
Argentina match and five in the Germany game. Belqola took part
in the 1997 Tournoi de France, which involved both finalists, and refereed
four African qualifiers for the World Cup. A match official
since 1983, he ends a 68-year run of World Cup finals being entrusted to
Europeans or Latin Americans. Europe has provided the majority of
referees. Belqola's linesmen at the Stade de France will be England's Mark
Warren, a 38-year-old police officer from Burton-on-Trent, and 42-year-old
South
African Achmat Salie, a wood furniture designer from Cape Town.
Abdul Rahman Al Zeid of Saudi
Arabia, a Riyadh teacher, is the fourth official. The
referee for the third place match on Saturday between Croatia and the Netherlands
at the Parc des Princes will be Paraguay's
Epifanio Gonzalez Chavez. Malta's Emanuel Zammit and Vanuatu's
Lencie Fred will be the linesmen and Urs Meier of Switzerland the fourth
official. Gonzalez Chavez was the fourth man at the
France-Croatia semifinal on Wednesday and refereed the Germany-Iran and Cameroon-Austria first
round matches. Like Belqola, the businessman from Villarrica
has not sent a player off in the finals and has given just five yellow
cards. FIFA also announced the team colors for the final and
third place match: - Brazil -- yellow shirts, blue shorts, white
socks.
- France -- Blue shirts, white shorts, red socks
- Netherlands
-- Orange shirts, white shorts, orange socks
- Croatia -- All blue.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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