The referee for England's World Cup semi-final with Croatia has been named - and the omens are good for Gareth Southgate.

Cuneyt Cakir has never overseen an England defeat and will be back in the middle for the Three Lions' biggest game since 1990.

The Turkish whistle blower is widely regarded as one of FIFA's top officials and regularly gets the nod for high profile matches in both club and country football.

It will be Cakir's third match of these World Cup finals, having previously taken charge of Morocco's group game with Iran and Argentina's dramatic late win over Nigeria.

Cakir, who works as an insurance agent by day, has given nine yellow cards and no reds across those two fixtures.

Cakir is the man in the middle for England vs Croatia (
Image:
REUTERS)

Cakir's most recent England game was the 3-0 win over Scotland at Wembley during qualifying for this summer's competition, nullifying what could have potentially been a feisty encounter.

He has overseen three other England matches: the 2-0 win over Switzerland (Euro 2016 qualifying), the 1-1 draw with Ukraine (World Cup 2014 qualifying) and the 2-0 win over Andorra (World Cup 2010 qualifying).

However, he sent off Steven Gerrard for a second bookable offence in the Ukraine game.

Cakir shows a card as England face Scotland in 2016 (
Image:
REUTERS)

The 41-year-old has never overseen a match involving Croatia, or even a club team from there.

Cakir refereed English teams three times during last season.

He was in the middle for Tottenham's 3-1 Champions League win over Real Madrid and also for Chelsea's 2-1 victory at Atletico Madrid in the same stadium.

Cakir also took charge of the 1-1 draw between Chelsea and Barcelona in the knockout stages.

He previously refereed the Champions League final in 2015 between Barcelona and Juventus.

Cakir in action earlier in this World Cup campaign (
Image:
REUTERS)

Cakir also refereed Sir Alex Ferguson's last match in the Champions League in 2013, provoking the Scot's anger after sending off Nani for a high tackle in the last-16 defeat to Real Madrid.

Ferguson, who opted not to attend his mandatory post-match press conference, said it was "hard to keep faith" after the decision.

Prior to the match he had told his backroom staff he was concerned Cakir had a tendency to send off players of English-based teams having dismissed seven but never any from teams playing against them.

Those players Cakir red-carded included Chelsea's John Terry, Gary Cahill and Steven Gerrard.

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