World Cup 2010: England v Slovenia referee is Germany's Wolfgang Stark

• Official took charge of Argentina's World Cup opener• England-Slovenia referee highly experienced

by Press Association 2 years ago

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England's World Cup future could rest in German hands for their final group match against Slovenia on Wednesday.

Fifa today announced that the German referee Wolfgang Stark will be in charge of what is a must-win fixture for Fabio Capello's side.

Stark, from Bavaria, is very experienced, having refereed games in the German top flight since 1994 and Champions League games since 2001.

The 40-year-old has, however, been the target of criticism in the past. In 2007 in the semi-final of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup he booked seven Chile players and sent off two more during their controversial defeat by Argentina.

Stark's assistants for the match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth are his fellow Germans Jan-Hendrik Salver and Mike Pickel.

The German refereeing team were in charge of Argentina's opening match against Nigeria last week, which the South Americans won 1-0. He booked one player from each team, Lukman Haruna of Nigeria and Jonás Gutiérrez of Argentina.

Meanwhile, Frank De Bleeckere of Belgium, will referee the USA's match against Algeria, also in Group C.

Ravshan Irmatov, of Uzbekistan, will also handle Greece vs. Argentina tomorrow after taking charge of the opening match between South Africa and Mexico and England's draw with Algeria on Friday.

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