Russia 2018: Argentina’s Pitana to referee France/Croatia final

Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana, along with his assistants Hernan Maidana and Juan Pablo Belatti, will officiate the final of the 2018 World Cup in Russia tomorrow between France and Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

According to FIFA,   Hernan Maidana and Juan Belatti also of Argentina serve as Assistant Referee I and II during the final.

Pitana, a 43-year-old physical education teacher, has already refereed four matches at Russia 2018, taking charge of Russia v Saudi Arabia (Opening Game) and Mexico v Sweden in the group stages, the Round of 16 match between Croatia and Denmark, as well as the quarter-final between Uruguay and France.

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Pitana has been an international referee since 2010. He is the second Argentinian referee to participate in two World Cups after Norberto Coerezza, who oversaw two games in 1970 and one in 1978. After Horacio Elizondo in 2006, he becomes the second Argentinian referee to officiate a World Cup Final.

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Pitana is one of South America’s most experienced referees and also has playing experience at youth level. Three games an the U-17 World Cup in 2013 preceded a call-up the following year for the World Cup in Brazil, where Pitana supervised four fixtures, including France v Germany in the quarter-finals. In 2015, he was called up for his first, and so far only, Copa America, in addition to handling River Plate v Huracan in the final of the Supercopa Argentina.

Pitana returned to Brazil in 2016 for the Olympic Football Tournament, where he was the man in the middle for the semi-final between Germany and Nigeria. In 2017 he took charge of the Confederations Cup semi-final between Germany and Mexico.

Meanwhile, Alireza Faghani from the Republic of Ireland will officiate the third place match today between England and Belgium.