Istvan Kovacs will officiate the 1,000th match in World Cup history

Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs has been selected to officiate the match between Tunisia and Japan, scheduled for Sunday at 7:00 AM, marking his first assignment as a central referee at the World Cup. This match is also the 1,000th in the history of the competition. The game will take place at the stadium in Monterrey, Mexico, an arena with a capacity of 53,000 seats, where the match Tunisia - Sweden was previously played.

Kovacs becomes the first Romanian referee to officiate a match at the World Cup since Ioan Igna, who refereed in 1986. On this occasion, Istvan Kovacs and his assistants, Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi, will wear special shirts with golden stripes and a commemorative emblem, handed over in the presence of colleagues from Team One.