The Referees Committee of world football governing body FIFA has picked 24 match officials who will be in charge at the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup scheduled for the UAE.
Six refereeing trios, one from each confederation, will officiate the matches.
Mehdi Abid Charef of Algeria was picked as the lone centre referee from Africa, the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The duo of Abdelhak Etchiali, also from Algeria, and Tunisia’s Anouar Hmila were picked alongside Charef to complete an officiation trio.
FIFA has also selected six more referees to operate as video assistant referees (VARs) during the tournament, with none of them from Africa and the Oceania.
This effectively means six centre referees were picked, with 12 assistant referees and six VARs.
All of the selected match officials will arrive in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 6 to complete their final preparations before the first match kicks off.
The FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 will be held in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain from Dec. 12 to Dec. 22.
The final match will be played at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 22.(NAN)