Although it is not the sport I officiate, football or soccer (as it is known in other parts of the world) will be definitely in the limelight in the coming weeks (especially here in Europe where it is the number one spectator sport) when the World Cup Finals get under way.

In the past days the sports pages have started listing the final selections made by the respective team managers and discussions have already started mushrooming both in formal and informal meetings.

As the final countdown will start reaching 9 June, more people will immerse themselves in the World Cup fever and will analyse and discuss many facets of the game.

Being a referee I obviously take an interest in the men in black (as they are called in football, even though other colours are today used).

For obvious reasons (as refereeing is very different than a player’s career in many ways) there will not be a single referee under the age of 30 at the 2006 World Cup next month, and the vast majority will be well into their 40s.

A couple of days ago there was much talk about teenage potential stars at the World Cup. Taking the England selection as an example, there are Theo Walcott and Aaaron Lennon who are just 17 and 19 years of age respectively.

Referees are, however, a different breed and one demands experience and a good ability to withstand pressure from their parts. The reasons are all too clear when you see pictures of players angrily protesting and complaining with referees. Fans also scream abuse from the stands and game analysts acutely observe and examine television pictures looking for the most marginal of errors.

It is no secret that the ability to deal with pressure comes naturally from good experience. Everything takes time and a referee will gradually increase in stature although one needs natural talent and a good personality.

FIFA gathered 44 referees with that blend of character and experience at a series of tests in Frankfurt in March and the number was then cut to 23 (this has decreased to 22 after the FIGC’s decision to withdraw Italian referee Massimo De Santis from the finals) at the final selection meeting on 31 March. This meant a reduction of more than 35 per cent from the 36 and 34 referees assigned to the 2002 and 1998 tournaments in Korea/Japan and France respectively.

The drastic reduction in overall numbers means a number of top referees were not selected for the World Cup in Germany, including highly-regarded European officials Terje Hauge of Norway, Claus Bo Larsen of Denmark and Alain Sars of France.

Apart from that, Greek referee Kyros Vassaras and Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez (who formed part of the original group of 23 chosen refs) have been ruled out of next month’s World Cup because their linesmen failed fitness tests. This might be something that many were not aware of and may sound harsh for the individual referee.

They have been replaced by two members of the backup group of officials, Italy’s Roberto Rosetti and Spain’s Luis Medina Cantalejo.

This was due to the fact that FIFA decided to have referees and linesmen to work as teams of three for the World Cup. Rather than break them up if one of them gets injured, they are replaced by a new trio.

The 22 referees selected by FIFA are from 21 countries, with Mexico being the only country having two referees.

Guatemala’s Carlos Batres (also in the original list) was dropped from the provisional list because he failed to recover from a knee ligament injury and was replaced by Mexico’s Marco Rodriguez.

The 32-year-old Australian Mark Shield has the honour of being the youngest referee at the tournament, while Russia’s Valentin Ivanov, born on July 4 1961, is the oldest, at the very edge of the age limit of 45.

Two of the more recent high-profile members of the football refereeing world (and two referees I admired a lot when watching this sport) will be missing from the World Cup Finals.

Italian Pierluigi Collina, the five-times world referee of the year with the distinctive bald head, resigned from the Italian Association of Referees last year. However, in any case Collina would have been over the age limit for this year’s finals.

On the other hand, Sweden’s Anders Frisk also resigned last year after receiving death threats following a match between Barcelona and Chelsea in the Champions League.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter recently called the referees the 33rd team at the World Cup and they can expect their task to be tougher than ever this time, with the authorities especially keen for them to clamp down on violent conduct and that game are to be as fair as possible.

FIFA also had good communication in mind when it chose to group referees with assistants from the same country, or at least from the same Confederation and with a common native language.

To reinforce the team ethic among the referees at the World Cup, all referees, plus their assistants, will stay at the same hotel on the outskirts of Frankfurt when they are not in action. They have all been required to pass an English test to make sure they can chat to one another during those quiet periods.

The task for FIFA now is to make sure that everyone, namely the referees, the players, the coaches and the fans, are well informed about the directives issued on how the laws should be interpreted for the World Cup.

Officials have been told to clamp down harder than ever on time-wasting, elbowing, diving and serious foul play.

The worry is that the new interpretation of the laws will see a spate of red and yellow cards in early World Cup matches but FIFA is not concerned.

Next week I will try to discuss the refereeing connection in the Italian soccer scandal and Massimo de Santis’ expulsion from the World Cup Finals.