Referees

World Cup: American referee Mark Geiger assigned to France-Nigeria match

Like the US national team, American referee Mark Geiger's impressive World Cup campaign is set to continue into the Round of 16.


On Saturday, FIFA announced that Geiger will be in charge of the France-Nigeria match taking place on Monday (12 pm ET, ESPN, Univision, CBC). Fellow American Sean Hurd and Canadian Joe Fletcher will act as assistant referees.


This will make the trio's third match as the head referee in Brazil. They previously officiated the Spain-Chile match in Group B and the Colombia-Greece match in Group C, receiving praise for his performances both times. Geiger is the first American to be assigned as the head official of a game in the knock-out rounds.


He was also the fourth referee during the Italy-Uruguay game that was marred by the Luis Suarez biting incident.


The 39-year-old Geiger, a member of the Professional Referee Organization, has been a longtime referee in MLS, with more than 100 matches to his credit over the past decade.