Tehran - A Russian international
referee is expected to arrive in Tehran to whistle the red-blue men
visit, after the Italian referee Pierluigi Collina refused to visit
Tehran due to his business in Italy.
Valentin Ivanov, who has judged France-Cameroon visit in confacup final,
will come to Tehran via Turkey.
UEFA boarding committee in a directive has called on members of the
confederation to apply foreign referees in derbies, Asefi, member of
Iranian Football Federation boarding committee said when asked why a
local referee was not called in to judge the derby.
The decision is made by UEFA to ease the pressures put on referees at
home.
UEFA has taken the decision because of the post-game problems occuring
for referees in a derby, Asefi said.
