The FIFA Referees Committee of the on-going 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, under the chairmanship of ?ngel Mar?a Villar Llona (Spain), has appointed Referee Michel Lubos of Slovakia as the man to be in the center of affairs at the FIFA World Cup Stadium in Dortmund on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 as Ghana seeks a quarter-final berth at the expense of 5-times record-winning World Cup champions, Brazil.

Michel Lubos, who is on record to have shown the highest number of yellow cards(18) and red card (1) for handling only two matches at the group stage in the tournament, was born on May 16, 1968 at a small village near Presov, Slovakia and started his refereeing career on January 1, 1993.

Michel, a manager by profession, has history, tennis and reading as his hobbies and speaks both English and Russian fluently.

According to the chairperson, each referee should take charge of three matches, as a single game is not enough to maintain quality standards, and the match between the Black Stars of Ghana and their Brazilian counterparts is expected to his third and the last in the tournament after officiating two matches already, Sweden vrs Paraguay and Portugal vrs Mexico.

In all, 23 referees representing 23 different countries will officiate at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, and for the first time, all three officials for a match will be picked from the same country or confederation to ensure co-ordination and proper interpretation of the rules governing the event.

His two assistants for the match are Martin Balko (Slovakia), a manager and Roman Slysko, a vascular surgeon (Slovakia).