OFFICIAL: FIFA change the referee for the World Cup final

As we said yesterday, Matías Lemmens (the president of San Lorenzo de Almagro) had complained about the designation of the Portuguese Pedro Proença to be the referee for the FIFA World Cup final. He had requested the appointment of the Chilean Eduardo Osses, but FIFA finally chose Walter López, from Guatemala, who will be the judge tomorrow in Marrakech at 20:30 CET.

Apparently, the rules of the tournament dictate that the referee for a match must not belong to the same continental confederation as any of the contenders. FIFA had initially chosen Pedro Proença, from Portugal, as an end-of-career gift for him, but they did not take into account the rules that they had written, since he is a UEFA referee. Lemmens's candidate, from CONMEBOL, did not satisfy the rules either, so finally Walter López, from CONCACAF, who was originally appointed for the runners-up final, will be the referee for the final.

As Marca reports, Real Madrid don't care about who the referee for the final will be, but the harsh accusations from San Lorenzo's president did not go down well on our governing board.