Kovács to Officiate 1000th World Cup Match

FIFA has appointed Romanian referee István Kovács to officiate the 1000th match in the history of the FIFA World Cup – the Group F encounter between Tunisia and Japan on June 20.

Kovács will be assisted by his compatriots, while the fourth official and assistant referees will be from Costa Rica. Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the

FIFA Referees Committee, stated that this appointment is a special honor, but was made entirely based on the usual criteria used to select the most suitable referee for a specific match.