Australia NewsBreeze On Road To South Africa |
A-LEAGUE ref Matthew Breeze has been included in a list of 38 being considered for appointment to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Breeze, who works as a police prosecutor, has been selected on a shortlist along with fellow Asian Football Confederation (AFC) referees, Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan), Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin (Malaysia) and Yuichi Nishimura (Japan).The final list of referees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will be selected from the provisional list of 38.
"Although there is still a long way to go before the final selection, it is definitely an honour to be considered for such a prestigious appointment," said Breeze.
"To be appointed to the FIFA World Cup has been an ambition of mine since I started out refereeing as 14 year-old, and I'm looking forward to the next phase of the selection process to hopefully make it to South Africa in 2010."
Matthew Breeze is a foundation referee of the Hyundai A-League competition and has refereed 64 matches since 2005, the most of any match official.
Having obtained his FIFA International refereeing badge in 2001, Breeze has officiated previously at a number of FIFA tournaments including the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championships, 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany and 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea.
Last year Breeze officiated at the AFC Asian Cup including the semi-final match between Japan and Saudi Arabia in Hanoi, Vietnam.
New Zealand-based Hyundai A-League referees, Michael Hester and Peter O'Leary, have also been added to the list of prospective match officials for the the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) National Technical Director of Referees, Mario van der Ende, congratulated Breeze on his shortlisting.
"Having refereed at the FIFA World Cup myself, I know it's an incredible honour and it is the pinnacle for every football referee," said van der Ende.
"We will be doing all we can to ensure that Matthew is on the final list, along with the other Hyundai A-League referees, Michael and Peter from New Zealand."
The final selection process involves referees attending regular seminars, as well as clearing performance benchmarks on technical, physical, medical and psychological tests, as well as performances in international matches, with the final selection of match officials occurring in early 2010.
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