German Wolfgang Stark to referee England match

England's World Cup future could rest in German hands for their final group match against Slovenia on Wednesday.

FIFA today announced that German referee Wolfgang Stark will be in charge of the must-win fixture for Fabio Capello's under-pressure side.

Stark, from Bavaria, is very experienced having refereed games in the German top flight since 1994 and Champions League games since 2001.

The 40-year-old has however been the target of criticism in the past. In 2007 in the semi-final of the FIFA under-20 World Cup he booked seven Chile players and sent off two more during their controversial defeat by Argentina.

Stark's assistants for the match at Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth are fellow Germans Jan-Hendrik Salver and Mike Pickel.

The German refereeing team were also in charge of Argentina's opening World Cup match against Nigeria which the South Americans won 1-0.