Daniel Bennett has been named on a shortlist of match officials for the next soccer World Cup finals - one of just a handful of referees from Africa for the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Bennett is the only South African named, but linesman Zakhele Siwela is expected to be on the shortlist of assistant refs, which world football's governing body has not yet published.
Both Bennett and Siwela worked at the recent African Nations Cup finals.
They will now come under even closer scrutiny from Fifa, which is desperate to have only the best referees at the World Cup and avoid the controversies that have dogged previous editions.
Bennett, a primary school teacher from Mondeor in Johannesburg, is likely to be given more high-profile matches to better prepare him for the World Cup. He will also be chosen to referee in at least one of three Fifa tournaments next year - either the Confederations Cup in Brazil, the U/20 World Cup in Turkey or the U/17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
At the 2010 World Cup, South Africa had Jerome Damon and Enock Molefe on the panel of officials. Damon failed a Fifa fitness test in July and Molefe will have passed the mandatory retirement age of 45 by 2014.
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