XtraTime Web Desk: Felix Brych would perhaps be the unhappiest man on earth right now. The referee who was criticized by Serbia for his performance in their group-stage defeat to Switzerland, has been told he will not be used again at the World Cup.
Serbia had issued a complaint to football world governing body FIFA after they felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the late 2-1 defeat in Kaliningrad.
Brych waved play on after Aleksandar Mitrovic appeared to have been wrestled to the ground by two Swiss players, and the video assistant review system was also controversially not used.
It was Brych’s only game at the World Cup.
“The course of the World Cup is of course a bitter disappointment for me and my team. But life goes on and we’ll be back,” Brych said.
The FIFA referees committee has selected 17 referees, 37 assistant referees and 10 video assistant referees for the final phase of the tournament.
The quarter-final referees are: Nestor Pitana of Argentina for Uruguay v France; Milorad Mazic of Serbia for Brazil v Belgium; Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands for Sweden v England; Sandro Ricci of Brazil for Russia v Croatia.