The final of the FIFA World Cup 2018 is all set to take place on 15 July in Moscow. The favourites France will take on the dark horses Croatia and the winner will be crowned as the World Champion.
France and Croatia will battle it out in the final for the World Cup trophy on July 15th, Sunday.
After all the upsets in the tournament, the final promises to be a cracker. The summit clash of the showpiece event is noted as one of the most critical matches in the history of football. And, needless to say, that the referees have to be top notch for games like this.
FIFA has confirmed an Argentine referee, Nestor Pitana will officiate in the final. He will be assisted by Hernan Maidana and Juan Belatti, with Bjorn Kuipers serving as the fourth official.
The 43-year old Argentine referee has been involved with the Superliga Argentina since 2007. He graduated as an international referee in 2010 and has presided over games in various CONMEBOL competitions. It includes the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, and Copa America. As well as a referee, Pitana works as a physical education teacher.
His assistants Maidana and Belatti also hail from Argentina, while Kuipers is a native of the Netherlands. Pitana is a vastly experienced referee and had already been involved in four games at Russia 2018. He officiated two group stage games and two knockout stage ties.
He had already been the adjudicator for games involving both Croatia and France. The ref served for Croatia’s last 16 match against Denmark and France’s quarter-final victory over Uruguay.
As well as the 2018 World Cup, Pitana was also a referee at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He had also been a referee at the 2015 Copa America, the 2017 Confederations Cup, the Olympic games and a variety of competitive international qualifying matches.