Argentina
will take on Croatia in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Thursday
as they seek to enter the World Cup finals for the sixth time. Having
beaten world number one Brazil in the quarters, Croatia will hope for a second
upset in a row. Italian referee Daniel Orsato will officiate the match.

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Who is
Daniele Orsato?

Daniele
Orsato is a professional football referee from Italy. He was born on November
23, 1975. He is married to Laura and has two sons, Gabriel and William with
her.

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He started
off as an electrician as he was reportedly fascinated by how lights turned on.
On his first day as an electrician, he was asked by a colleague to enroll for a
referee course. Orsato has been a FIFA referee since 2010.

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He refereed in the qualifying
stages of the 2012 UEFA Euro cup while was also given an opportunity to
officiate the group matches of the 2012-13 UEFA champions league. He then
refereed in the qualifying stages of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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The Italian
was named as a video assistant referee (VAR) for the World Cup round of 16
match between Croatia and Denmark in 2018. The turning point of Orsato’s career
came in 2020 when he was made the referee of the UEFA final clash between Paris
Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

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He refereed at the UEFA Euro Cup in 2020. In the
same year he was awarded ‘best referee of the year’ by international federation
of football history and statistics (IFFHS). Orsato was
a part of FIFA’s list of referees for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, released in
May. 

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Orsato was the referee for the inaugural match of the cup between hosts Qatar
and Ecuador on November 20. He also officiated Argentina’s group C match
against Mexico. He was appointed as the referee for the first semi-final of the
World Cup between Argentina and Croatia.