DUBAI -- World Cup referee Ali Bujsaim accused FIFA on Tuesday of bowing to pressure in nominating Pierluigi Collina for the final between Brazil and Germany.

"We thought the referee in the final wouldn't be from Europe since Germany is a European country, but FIFA nominated an Italian for the job," the United Arab Emirates official told Reuters on arrival in Dubai from the Korea/Japan tournament.

"It all happened because Europeans started putting pressure on the FIFA Referees Committee to name European referees for the semifinals and final after top countries likes France, Spain and Italy made an early exit," he said.

"FIFA was not strong enough to stand against the continued pressure from the Europeans, who were determined to keep referees from smaller nations in their place." Following an outcry over bad refereeing decisions which went the way of co-hosts South Korea in particular in their matches against Italy and then Spain in the knockout stages, world body FIFA named European officials for the last two rounds, Reuters reported.

"I have nothing personal against Collina. He is one of the top referees in the world and handled the final very well," said Bujsaim, adding: "I had a chance of supervising the final, but only if Italy had made the final." Bujsaim was in charge of two matches in the tournament, the opening game between France and Senegal in Seoul and the Group F decider between Argentina and Sweden in Oita, Japan.