The referee for England’s crunch game against Uruguay has been named as Carlos Velasco Carballo, who sent off Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger after an alleged dive by Wayne Rooney in April.

The Spanish official courted controversy when he gave Schweinsteiger a second yellow card in the closing seconds of the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford in April, despite the Germany international making minimal contact with the Manchester United forward. Pep Guardiola, Bayern’s coach, made a diving gesture to the referee but Rooney insisted afterwards that Schweinsteiger had “gone in with his studs”, and he will be hoping for similar protection from the referee in São Paulo on Thursday.

Velasco Carballo also refereed the 20111 Europa League final between Porto and Braga in Dublin.

Howard Webb will referee his first World Cup game since the final in South Africa four years ago when he takes charge of Colombia against Ivory Coast on Thursday. The 42-year-old Englishman, widely considered the country’s No1 referee, has also officiated at the past two European Championships.

A statement on the FA website said: “Howard Webb will officiate his first game of the 2014 World Cup on Thursday. Four years after refereeing the World Cup final, Webb gets his first duty of this tournament in the Colombia v Ivory Coast match in Brasilia. The English official’s assignment was among those announced by Fifa on Tuesday.

“It has also been confirmed by Fifa that Carlos Velasco Carballo of Spain will handle England’s crunch match with Uruguay in São Paulo.”

Japan against Greece, the final fixture on Thursday, will be officiated by Joel Aguilar from El Salvador.