New Delhi: Ravshan Irmatov, one of world’s most famous referees, will supervise the Calcutta Football League (CFL) match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium on January 7.

According to sources, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has appointed the Uzbekistan referee for the crucial tie after a request was sent to them by the IFA through the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

“Irmatov is considered the poster boy of the elite Fifa referees,” sources revealed. “In the 2010 World Cup, Irmatov not only supervised the opening tie but also did record number of five matches, including a semi-final,” he added.

Apart from the World Cup, the 34-year-old Uzbek, whose father was also a referee, was the man with the whistle in the last Asian Cup final in Doha. He was adjudged Asia’s best referee by the AFC for three years in a row from 2008.

This is however, not for the first time foreign referees have been brought to supervise important matches in the domestic circuit. In 2000, a set of Malaysian referees came to India for important I-League matches.