Fahad Al Mirdasi who was banned by Saudi Arabian Football Association (SAFF) for an attempt of match-fixing was supposed to travel to Russia for the World Cup 2018. But now, FIFA has dropped the tainted referee and in a statement said that he won’t be travelling to Russia for the mega event. Two of his assistants will also not be used during the tournament.

"With reference to the current situation of the Saudi referee Mr. Fahad Al Mirdasi, the FIFA Referees Committee has considered that the conditions to be selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup are not satisfied anymore and therefore has decided that the selection of Mr. Fahad Al Mirdasi is withdrawn with immediate effect," a FIFA statement confirmed.

"In line with FIFA's overall philosophy of seeking to appoint match officials together as a team of three during the preparation, the FIFA Referees Committee has therefore also decided to remove the two assistant referees Mohammed Al Abakry and Abdulah Alshalwai, who are in referee Al Mirdasi's team. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have been officially informed,” read the statement further.

As per SAFF, Fahad Al Mirdasi handed information to an Al- Ittihad official. He confessed about the same just a couple of weeks ahead of the FIFA World Cup. As per reports, Hasan Al-Mahri from UAE and Japan's Hiroshi Yamauchi will be the two assistants to travel for the FIFA World Cup 2018. He had been a referee for FIFA since 2011.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2018 08:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).