Europeans to referee World Cup Asian playoffs

European referees Massimo Busacca and Graham Poll will officiate the Asian Confederation's World Cup playoffs between Uzbekistan and Bahrain. Football's world body, FIFA, announced that Swiss Busacca will referee when the teams meet in a replay of the first leg in Tashkent on 8 October, while Englishman Poll will be in charge of the second leg in Manama four days later.

FIFA had decided that the tie would be replayed after a technical error by referee Toshimitsu Yoshida during the original first leg in Tashkent on 3 September. Yoshida disallowed a penalty converted by Server Djeparov in the first half for encroachment but then erroneously awarded an indirect free-kick to Bahrain instead of a retake of the penalty.

See also: Non-Asian referees requested for World Cup games