Of the selected 18 Indians, four are women (two referees and two assistant referees), and 14 are men (six referees and eight assistant referees) and that members of the list are eligible to officiate at the international level and are also entitled to wear a FIFA badge on their uniform for the year they are enlisted.

The selection for the annual list is made through the nominations sent by FIFA member countries and the officials are required to clear a fitness test.

List of selected Indian officials

Men referees: Tejas Nagvenkar, Srikrishna Coimbatore Ramaswamy, Rowan Arumughan, Crystal John, Pranjal Banerjee, Venkatesh Ramachandran.

Women referees: Ranjita Devi Tekcham, Kanika Barman.

Men assistant referees: Sumanta Dutta, Antony Abraham, Tony Joseph Louis, Vairamuthu Parasuraman, Samar Pal, Kennedy Sapam, Arun Sasidharan Pillai, Asit Kumar Sarkar.

Women assistant referees: Uvena Fernandes, Ri-iohlang Dhar.

Indian football is currently in full swing with the 2021/22 edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) underway while this season’s I-League is scheduled to start on Sunday, December 26 with current champions, Gokulam Kerala FC facing Churchill Brothers in the opener.