African Referee to Officiate World Cup Third Place Match

World football governing body, FIFA, has appointed Algerian referee, Djamel Haimoudi as the centre referee for the third place match between Brazil and the Netherlands scheduled to take place on Saturday, 12 July, 2013. As a result of this FIFA’s decision, Haimoudi will become the first African referee to officiate a third place match of a FIFA World Cup. During the ongoing Mundial in Brazil, the 43-year-old football referee has officiated the group-stage matches between Australia and Netherlands, Costa Rica versus England, as well as Belgium versus USA in the Round of 16. According to a statement released on FIFA’s official website, Haimoudi oversaw two matches in last year’s FIFA Confederations Cup and he was selected for the FIFA Club World Cup 2012 and the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011. * Algerian referee, Djamel Haimoudi Haimoudi also has notable experience in his confederation CAF taking charge of three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations – in 2008, 2012 and 2013. The Algerian was also the centre referee when Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso in the final of the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa