FIFA has dropped Fahad Al-Mirdasi from the 2018 World Cup after the Saudi Arabian referee was banned for a match-fixing attempt in his country.
The 32-year-old was already banned from officiating for life by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
According to the SAFF, Al-Mirdasi confessed to trying to fix the King's Cup final between Al-Ittihad and Al-Faisaly.
"With reference to the current situation of the Saudi referee Mr Fahad Al-Mirdasi, the FIFA Referees Committee has considered that the conditions to be selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup are not satisfied anymore and therefore has decided that the selection of Mr Fahad Al-Mirdasi is withdrawn with immediate effect," read a FIFA statement.
"In line with FIFA's overall philosophy of seeking to appoint match officials together as a team of three during the preparation, the FIFA Referees Committee has therefore also decided to remove the two assistant referees Mohammed Al-Abakry and Abdulah Alshalwai, who are in referee Al Mirdasi's team."
FIFA added that Al-Mirdasi will not be directly replaced, with the governing body instead taking two additional assistant referees from the United Arab Emirates and Japan.
Giuseppe Labellarte
