NEW YORK CMC:JAMAICAN PETER Prendegast is the only referee from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and one of six from CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean, picked on a preliminary list of referees for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
FIFA announced a list of 46 candidates Wednesday that will vie for appointments at next year's finals of football's biggest event.
For the first time in the history of FIFA and the FIFA World Cup, the 46 officials will attend the first workshop in Frank
furt between February 12-16 February 2005 some 16 months before the opening match in Munich on June 9, 2006 to prepare for the challenge ahead.
The candidates will be undergoing a thorough medical check-up and a number of theoretical and practical training sessions.
They will also work on their physical fitness before being required to complete a demanding fitness test.
OTHER REFEREES
"Top quality is the goal," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
"This unique programme will help us identify, train and prepare match officials for the 2006 FIFA World Cup so that we have nothing but the best referees on the pitch."
Mexicans Benito Archundia and Marco Rodriquez, Garlos Batres (Guatemala), El Salvador's Rodolfo Sibrian, and American Kevin Stott are the other CONCACAF referees with Prendegast on the list.
The 41-year-old Prendegast, a former premier league player in Jamaica, had become the first Jamaican to referee at the World Cup Finals, when he officiated in the 2002 Finals in South Korea and Japan.
