2018 FIFA WC - Predictions About Match Officials - Results

These are the results of the polls about your predictions for WC 2018. 

First of all, my special thank to all readers who participated in the voting. Now I'm really proud to present the results, with a short analysis, confederation by confederation.


AFC

Ravshan Irmatov is the first option according to your opinions, with 248 votes. The experienced FIFA referee from Uzbekistan leads his confederation. The second choice in terms of preferences is represented by Alireza Faghani, the Iranian follows closely (218) and without doubts he can be sure of his call at WC. It is then very interesting to point out that we have Ryuji Sato from Japan as third ranked (204). He is ahead of Nawaf Shukralla from Bahrein (156). Fahad Al Mirdasi and Mohamed Mohammed Abdulla could be considered the reserve referees, given that they got less votes than all the other names in this confederation.

CAF 

Bakary Gassama leads his confederation as first option, no surprises on that. The Gambian will attend WC and we have important expectations in his regards. Ghead Grisha has confirmed to be a strong option as well, as he got 153 votes and he is listed as CAF number 2, among the selected officials, by our readers. The Egyptian can surely have a very good WC, in case of appointment as main referee. Interesting that he is considered ahead of a very strong name (at least in my opinion) like Zambian Janny Sikazwe (141), despite of the fact that the latter got many big appointments in FIFA and CAF games and also a major final. Malang Diedhiou is considered as fourth option by our readers, while Mehdi Abid Charef and Bamlak Tessema Weyesa seem destined to be reserve referees.   

CONCACAF

Differently from most of all the other confederations, things look quite clear in CONCACAF. We have three referees with many votes than the other ones: Mark Geiger, Joel Aguilar and César Ramos seem to have no rivals, and they all should attend WC. The first option among the "other" officials with less votes is John Pitti  from Panama, with 73 preferences. To follow, Ricardo Montero, and Jair Marrufo, very likely both reserve referees in Russia.  

CONMEBOL

It has been a head-to-had contention between Néstor Pitana and Sandro Ricci for the first place. The Argentinian has reached it. Only 4 votes separate the two contenders, however, in any case, no doubts that both will attend WC. To follow, we have Wilmar Roldán from Colombia. He is considered the third choice after the aforementioned referees. No doubts on that as well, from my side. My wish is that he can have a better WC than the previous one. Enrique Cáceres of Paraguay is seen as fourth choice. He should attend WC as well. Then, my big doubt about this confederation, is as well the one of our readers. Julio Bascuñán and Andrés Cunha are very close with a difference of only 6 votes. One of them could be main referee while the other one very likely a reserve. These results don't offer the chance to say more about that.

OFC

In this confederation the choice is clear, given that we have only two selected referees, our readers are convinced that Matthew Conger from New Zealand (124 votes) will attend WC as main referee, while Norbert Hauata (87) could be there again only as reserve, as it happened in 2014. 

UEFA

Björn Kuipers confirms to be a referee with a more than high reputation inside UEFA. Inded, he is the first ranked, according to our readers. The 44 years old from the Netherlands leads his confederation. Serbian Milorad Mažić follows closely after the Dutch, and he is confirmed as second ranked by our voters. Just 6 votes below, we have German Felix Brych, another safe man for WC 2018. Cüneyt Çakır, Damir Skomina, Gianluca Rocchi and Szymon Marciniak follow and all of them are very close. Now, the most interesting thing to point out about UEFA, at least in my opinion, is that Antonio Mateu Lahoz has a significant distance in terms of preferences from the previously mentioned officials, with 202 votes. Of course, this is still a very good result, but we can underline that, according to our readers, the Spanish is not seen like the other mentioned referees. In any case, I think he will attend WC. To follow, Russian Sergei Karasev  would be more liked by our voters than Clément Turpin, considering a significant difference of  58 votes between them. Very likely, the French will act as fourth official, while Karasev will be confirmed as main referee for WC. For more details and the official confirmations about that, we have just to wait. Thanks again for your votes.