Cüneyt Çakır in charge of FIFA Club World Cup final

Turkish match official Cüneyt Çakır has been appointed to take control over Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup final between Brazil's Corinthians and England's Chelsea London. Having been already in charge of the quarterfinal between Ulsan Hyundai and Monterrey, the professional referee based in Istanbul will be accompanied by his countrymen Bahattin Duran and Tarik Ongun, while Alireza Faghani and Hassan Kamranifar of Iran will complete the officiating crew.

Cüneyt Çakır (TUR) in charge of Yokohama's final (c) ZIMBIO

For the former Turkish insurance manager, it will be his first international final ever, although he has already assumed huge responsibility in a UEFA Champions League semifinal (Barcelona - Chelsea), a UEFA Europa League (Fulham - Hamburger SV) and finally the semifinal clash between Portugal and Spain at EURO 2012. He has been furthermore elected as this blog's best European referee in 2012 (exact results will follow during the next days).

It will be the first time since 2009 that FIFA's actually established principle of continental neutrality is broken, meaning that the referee to be selected has to come from a different confederation than the involved teams, as long as they join two different confederations.

Concerning the match for the 3rd place, FIFA has nominated an officiating team consisting of Peter O'Leary and Mark Rule of New Zealand, Ravinesh Kumar of Fiji, Nawaf Shukrallah as well as Yaser Tulefat both coming from Bahrain.

(EGY) Al-Ahly			Monterrey (MEX)
Sunday, 16 December 2012, 16:30 JST  Match for the 3rd Place - International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama (Japan)
Referee: Peter O'Leary (NZL) Assistant Referee 1: Mark Rule (NZL) Assistant Referee 2: Ravinesh Kumar (FIJ) Fourth Official: Nawaf Shukrallah (BHR) Reserve Assistant Referee: Yaser Tulefat (BHR) Blog-Referee Observer: Philipp S. (GER)

(BRA) Corinthians			Chelsea (ENG)
Sunday, 16 December 2012, 19:30 JST  Final - International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama (Japan)
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR) Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR) Assistant Referee 2: Tarik Ongun (TUR) Fourth Official: Alireza Faghani (IRN) Reserve Assistant Referee: Hassan Kamranifar (IRN) Blog-Referee Observer: Turan O. (USA)