In line with the ranking, Germany’s Markus Merk was named as the World's best referee of the first decade of the 21st century. Uzbekistan’s Ravshan Irmatov also entered the ranking.

Three-time AFC Referee of the Year Ravshan Irmatov claimed the 26th place in the IFFHS ranking. He was the first among the Asian referees and the second place among the CIS officials.

IFFHS made ranking based on annual votes, conducted by the organization each year. After ten votes for The World's best Referee during the 1st Decade of the 21st Century a total of only 63 referees feature in the ten annual world rankings. These 63 referees are from Europe (44), South America (9), Asia (5), Central and North America (3), Africa (1) and Oceania (1).