FRANCE 98 – Profile of Said Belqola and Epifanio Gonzalez Chavez, referees for the Final and 3rd place playoff matches
The Moroccan Said BELQOLA is the referee assigned by FIFA for the final of FRANCE 98, which will be at 21h00 on Sunday 12 July at the Stade de France in SAINT-DENIS. There to help him will be the Englishman Mark WARREN and the South African Achmat SALIE, and as 4th referee the Saudi Arabian Abdul Rahman AL ZEID.
Born in Fes, MOROCCO, on 30 August 1956, Said BELQOLA has been an international referee since 1993. This is his first World Cup, and since the first round he has refereed two other matches, GERMANY-UNITED STATES and ARGENTINA-CROATIA.
After having mediated during last year’s Tournoi de France, Said BELQOLA, a customs officer by profession, was also the official for matches in the preliminary round of FRANCE 98. More recently he was also referee for the final of the African Nations Cup in 1998. This will be the first time that an African referee will be the official in a World Cup final.
The Paraguayan Epifanio GONZALEZ CHAVEZ will be referee for the third and fourth place play-off which will be held at the Parc des Princes in PARIS, on Saturday 11 July. He will be assisted by the Maltese Emanuel ZAMMIT and by Lencie FRED du VANUATU, with the Swiss Urs MEIER as 4th referee.