Referee Who Racially Abused Appiah Snubbed

Fifa Referees Committee appointed the 36 referees and the 72 linesmen for the World Cup. No Ghanaian referee was invited. Italian assistant referee, Puglisi, who was accused of racially abusing Appiah was not invited. He was on the preliminary list.

Top assistant referee Racially Abuse Appiah

January 4 -- Football assistant referee Claudio Puglisi was Friday reported to the professional game's disciplinary body by the Italian Football Federation's (FIGC) sporting prosecutor for alleged racism.

Puglisi, who is set to be an assistant referee at the World Cup finals, was reported for remarks allegedly made to Parma's Ghanaian player Stephen Appiah during the match with Atalanta on December 15.

The indictment described the remarks as "a demeaning sentence, expressing racial discrimination".

The incident, according to witnesses, occurred when several Parma substitutes, including Appiah, were warming up during the second half on the sideline and one unintentionally knocked the official to the ground.

Puglisi got up and then is said to have racially abused the Ghanaian. He is later said to have apologised to the player in the dressing room.