Friday, 26 September 2025

FIFA Under-20 World Cup Chile 2025 - Referee Appointments

 The following officials have been appointed for group stage at 205 FIFA Under-20 World Cup.




MD1

27 September 2025, 22:00 CET
JAPAN - EGYPT 
Referee: Dario Herrera ARG
Assistant Referee 1: Cristian Navarro ARG
Assistant Referee 2: José Savorani ARG 
Fourth Official: João Pinheiro POR
Reserve Assistant Referee: Bruno Jesus POR

27 September 2025, 22:00 CET
SOUTH KOREA - UKRAINE
Referee: Keylor Herrera CRC 
Assistant Referee 1: William Chow CRC 
Assistant Referee 2: Víctor Ramírez CRC
Fourth Official: Jalal Jayed MAR
Reserve Assistant Referee: Lahsan Azgaou MAR

28 September 2025, 01:00 CET
CHILE - NEW ZEALAND
Referee: Irfan Peljto BIH
Assistant Referee 1: Senad Ibrišimbegović BIH
Assistant Referee 2: Davor Beljo BIH 
Fourth Official: Joseph Dickerson USA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Cameron Blanchard USA 

28 September 2025, 01:00 CET
PARAGUAY - PANAMA
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Íñigo López de Cerain ESP
Fourth Official: Omar Abdulkadir Artan SOM
Reserve Assistant Referee: Gilbert Cheruiyot KEN

28 September 2025, 22:00 CET
MOROCCO - SPAIN
Referee: Gustavo Tejera URU 
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Barreiro URU
Assistant Referee 2: Agustin Berisso URU
Fourth Official:  Keylor Herrera CRC 
Reserve Assistant Referee: William Chow CRC 

28 September 2025, 22:00 CET
ITALY - AUSTRALIA 
Referee: Katia Itzel García MEX
Assistant Referee 1: Sandra Ramírez MEX
Assistant Referee 2: Karen Díaz MEX
Fourth Official: Jalal Jayed MAR
Reserve Assistant Referee: Mostafa Akarkad MAR

29 September 2025, 01:00 CET
BRAZIL - MEXICO
Referee: Maurizio Mariani ITA 
Assistant Referee 1: Daniele Bindoni ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni ITA 
Fourth Official: Irfan Peljto BIH 
Reserve Assistant Referee: Senad Ibrišimbegović BIH

29 September 2025, 01:00 CET
CUBA - ARGENTINA
Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin MAS
Assistant Referee 1: Zairul Khalil Tan MAS
Assistant Referee 2: Muazi Zainal Abidin MAS
Fourth Official: Khalid Al-Turais KSA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Mohammed Al-Bakry KSA

29 September 2025, 22:00 CET
FRANCE - SOUTH AFRICA
Referee: João Pinheiro POR
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR 
Fourth Official: Dario Herrera ARG
Reserve Assistant Referee: Cristian Navarro ARG

29 September 2025, 22:00 CET
NORWAY - NIGERIA 
Referee: Joseph Dickerson USA 
Assistant Referee 1: Cameron Blanchard USA
Assistant Referee 2: Logan Brown USA
Fourth Official: Maurizio Mariani ITA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Abu Bakar Al Amri OMA

30 September 2025, 01:00 CET
USA - NEW CALEDONIA 
Referee:  Omar Abdulkadir Artan SOM
Assistant Referee 1: Gilbert Cheruiyot KEN
Assistant Referee 2: Abelmiro Montenegro ANG
Fourth Official:  José María Sánchez Martínez ESP
Reserve Assistant Referee: Raúl Cabañero Martínez ESP

30 September 2025, 01:00 CET
COLOMBIA - SAUDI ARABIA 
Referee: Youcef Gamouh ALG 
Assistant Referee 1: Khalil Hassan TUN
Assistant Referee 2: Eric Ayimavo BEN
Fourth Official: Maurizio Mariani ITA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Abu Bakar Al Amri OMA

MD2

30 September 2025, 22:00 CET
EGYPT - NEW ZEALAND
Referee: Khalid Al Turais KSA
Assistant Referee 1: Mohammed Al Abakry KSA
Assistant Referee 2: Abdulrahim Al Shammari KSA
Fourth Official: Nazmi Nasaruddin MAS
Reserve Assistant Referee: Zairul Tan MAS

30 September 2025, 22:00 CET
PANAMA - UKRAINE
Referee: Kevin Ortega PER
Assistant Referee 1: Michael Orue PER
Assistant Referee 2: Jesús Sánchez PER
Fourth Official: Omar Abdulkadir Artan SOM
Reserve Assistant Referee: Rashid Al Ghaithi OMA

1 October 2025, 01:00 CET
CHILE - JAPAN 
Referee: Jalal Jayed MAR
Assistant Referee 1: Lahsen Azgaou MAR
Assistant Referee 2: Mostafa Akarkad MAR
Fourth Official: João Pinheiro POR
Reserve Assistant Referee: Luciano Maia POR 

1 October 2025, 01:00 CET
SOUTH KOREA - PARAGUAY
Referee: Irfan Peljto BIH
Assistant Referee 1: Senad Ibrišimbegović BIH
Assistant Referee 2: Davor Beljo BIH : 
Fourth Official:  Katia Itzel García MEX
Reserve Assistant Referee: Sandra Ramírez MEX

1 October 2025, 22:00 CET
SPAIN - MEXICO
Referee: Dario Herrera ARG
Assistant Referee 1: Cristian Navarro ARG
Assistant Referee 2: José Savorani ARG 
Fourth Official:  Kevin Ortega PER 
Reserve Assistant Referee: Michael Orue PER

1 October 2025, 22:00 CET
ITALY - CUBA
Referee:Augusto Aragon ECU
Assistant Referee 1: Edison Vasquez ECU
Assistant Referee 2: Danny Avila ECU
Fourth Official: Jalal Jayed MAR
Reserve Assistant Referee: Lahsan Azgaou MAR

2 October 2025,01:00 CET
BRAZIL - MOROCCO 
Referee: Keylor Herrera CRC 
Assistant Referee 1: William Chow CRC 
Assistant Referee 2: Víctor Ramírez CRC
Fourth Official: Joseph Dickerson USA
Reserve Assistant Referee: Logan Brown USA

2 October 2025,01:00 CET
ARGENTINA - AUSTRALIA 
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Íñigo López de Cerain ESP
Fourth Official: Youcef Gamouh ALG
Reserve Assistant Referee: Khalil Hassani TUN

52 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. No, it will be FVS instead.

      Delete
    2. Can you explain what this is about? Thank you in advance.

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    3. It is a simplified VAR.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_video_support
      If you have time and you are interested, here in the comments a very detailed report about the tool used at FIFA Women's 2024 u17 World Cup.
      https://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2024/10/2024-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup-referee.html

      Delete
  2. Croatian football league

    Last weekend, a derby was played, which ended with a victory for the guests. Referred well on the first one, but not so much on the second one. The fans of the guests (not the club officially) resent, according to them, the uneven criteria. There was even a video made with situations that offend the head referee.

    My situation is from the second game. Below is the video.
    So, a yellow card was awarded. After OFR, the head referee changes the decision to a red card. Right or wrong


    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KV5JXL-h1k8

    ReplyDelete
  3. 100% red card. Correct OFR and correct to change decision

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alberola rojas designated for the Madrid derby this Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And Del Cerro Grande will be VAR (Del Cerro is from Madrid, so during his career as an active field ref he couldn't handle Madrid or Atlético games.

      Miguel Sesma Espinosa (recently promoted this season) has been appointed to Villarreal - Athletic, i.e. a clash between two CL teams. VAR will be González Fuertes, who is back after an informal suspension (what here in ESP call "nevera", lit. the fridge) for overlooking a clear offside as VAR in Alavés - Atlético several weeks ago)

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  5. OT: Ismail Elfath will officiate his first game of the year this Saturday (Colorado-Minnesota), his last game was Mexico-Jamaica in Copa America in June 2024 (!).

    ReplyDelete
  6. A dramatic end to the game that Marian Barbu was refereeing in Kuwait today...

    https://youtu.be/-US8lduAKFU

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Today in KSA:
      Al-Hazm vs Al-Ahli (Treimanis)
      Al-Ittihad vs An-Nassr (Rumšas)

      Delete
    2. Who was VAR in charge? Local?
      Absolutely never a punishable situation, maybe avoiding the OFR would have "better" helped the referee. With a quick final whistle after that.
      Nevertheless, one must say that it's unacceptable to have to deal with these situations.

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    3. Cătălin Sorin Popa was VAR, the rest of referee team was local. In Arab world it's common to send the referee to the monitor if major controversy has place in last minutes.

      In Saudi Arabia, VARs were Ratnieks and Šimėnas, respectively.

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    4. It is beyond me why UEFA referees are still being sent to these countries to officiate matches. Not only is the level of football really bad, but the behavior towards referees, opponents, and people in general is an absolute disaster.
      I do understand that referees make decent money there, but Rosetti should step in and prohibit UEFA referees from officiating matches in countries like Kuwait, since people there clearly don’t seem to have things under control.
      By the way, Barbu’s decision was 100% correct!

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    5. I actually kinda like watching UEFA refs being sent to a 'wilder' league with more challenging games and insolent players compared to what they face in their regular UEFA & domestic competitions. Saudi League was lowkey like this not so long ago, until it got much more professionalized in all aspects in the last few years.

      I draw the line at referees having to fear for their safety, like in Greece a couple of years ago.

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  7. Cordero Vega appointed to La Liga games on both the 25th and 27th of September.....pretty strange management

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good OFR in the Derby.
    Clear handball goal disallowed by Alberola in conjunction with Cerro Grande.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah probably not very easy to spot live for Alberola Rojas

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  9. Excellent penalty called live.
    Congratulations, Alberola!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Idk what you think about the referee appointment in england, but cavanagh and hooper seems to be getting high profile games, Oliver with lower profile ones. Is it because it’s the beginning of the season?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Positive for Alberola Rojas this afternoon in the derby.
    The handball on the disallowed goal is very difficult to watch live, great work by Cerro Grande.
    Penalty awarded on the field with precision.
    Great performance by the excellent Alberola!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I also will say he was solid in a match that was not easy, clearly looking like the next big name for Spain !

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    2. If all games he would whistle like this,and not be lenient and sometimes not motiveted to whistle bottom teams.

      Only 2 polemics;

      2 possible RC's,1 for Guler ,kick to the head and 2nd YC to Sorloth for his goal celebrations.

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    3. Excellent job of Alberola Rojas. Handball would not be spoted by any referee in world, so great Teamwork. Spain really gonna have top names in future, if they continiue like that.

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    4. I far more like Busquets Ferrer,who is not afraid to punish when necessary.
      But Spain has their favourite ynd that is Rojas.

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    5. It was a challenging game and Alberola Rojas was able to 'land the airplane', but not a faultless performance by any means.

      Delete
    6. Yes, I agree.
      I give him an 8 out of 10 for the game.

      Delete
  12. UEFA CENTRE OF REFEREEING EXCELLENCE (CORE)
    61st Consolidation course for Referees and Assistant Referees
    Nyon, Switzerland
    22 – 26 September 2025
    https://www.instagram.com/p/DPHQ4lKDBVh/
    Can you identify the referees?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mateo Tozan and Jure Jamnik SVN

      Other officials from BUL, FRO, GEO, GIB, IRL, LTU, LUX, NOR, POR and Chile.

      https://www.prvaliga.si/novica/Mateo_Tozan_in_Jure_Jamnik_na_Uefa_CORE_konsolidacijskem_seminarju?id=61693&id_objekta=40

      Delete
  13. It seems both Schärer and Al-Kaf are out of U20WC due to injury.

    It would be the 2nd time in a row for the Swiss, incredible bad luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would mean busy days for the remaining referees, if there are no replacements. Especially if Rojas is also out, as reported.

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    2. @Philipp S

      FIFA declined Conmebol Refcom's request to remove Rojas from the tournament. He hasn't been appointed yet, but I know for certain he's in Chile right now.

      Delete
    3. That's good to hear.
      Do you know anything about Aragon as well? He is the only other one missing on MD1.

      Delete
  14. Dario Herrera correctly awarded Japan a penalty (clip below) and didn't face any video support challenges to his decisions from either team in the first half.

    https://www.streambug.io/cv/9fb87a

    That being said, with a view towards WC2026, the manner in which the Argentine referee handled the first half was a bit inauspicious: he didn't pick up on the early trend of the match (Egy were going to foul their opponents quite crudely) and his demeanour doesn't arouse that much respect from players, coming across as a bit buffoonish - for my taste at least.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing really happened in the second half (match was always normal difficulty). If I were to write a polemic comment, one could say ‘Dario Herrera is like a version of Sampaio ordered on Wish’ - the same kind of serious looking referee with a very good movement style as the Brazilian, but with a number of drawbacks in both decisions and presence. The rating of the three Argentine WC candidates should be quite clear I think (despite Falcon’s CWC with some odd calls, he should remain 2nd).

      Delete
    2. Finally one can see a very clear penalty in the sense of the LOTG, defender from behind , aware of the attacker, makes a foul, and takes full responsibility for that. Furthermore, in a tournament with video support, it's indeed a success that you don't see anybody trying to revoke the call with the video.

      Said that, really sorry for Schaerer, it's not the first time and I think he has frequent physical issues. Despite of that, he is having a very good career so far, but maybe it could have been already more. And it seems the injures are always serious for him, rather medium-long times, maybe it's always the same thing (he suffers from something in particular), we can't know.
      Wishing a speedy recovery, but now unfortunately the tournament it's gone for him.

      Delete
    3. The procedure at the penalty took way too long - without VAR checks there is no reason for such a delay.
      One should expect from an Elite referee to manage those situations so that there is less than a minute between whistle and execution, I think.

      Delete
  15. Among the spectators for Chile-N.Zealand is Pierluigi Collina.

    ReplyDelete
  16. 88'once whistled very clear YC should have been shown,clear SPA..

    Sanchez and his criterium.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Predictions MD2 (assuming Al Kaf, Aragon and Schärer are unavailable):
    EGY-NZL: Al Turais (Pinheiro)
    CHI-JAP: Jayed (Garcia)
    PAN-UKR: Rojas (Artan)
    KOR-PAR: Peljto (Gamouh)
    ESP-MEX: D.Herrera (Al Turais)
    BRA-MAR: K.Herrera (Peljto)
    ITA-CUB: Tejera (Jayed)
    ARG-AUS: Sanchez (Dickerson)
    USA-FRA: Gamouh (D.Herrera)
    RSA-NCL: Nasaruddin (Pinheiro)
    COL-NOR: Artan (K.Herrera)
    NIG-KSA: Garcia (Dickerson)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Btw, Kevin Ortega from Peru (referee at Tokyo Olympics, support referee in Qatar) has been called by FIFA to handle games in the tournament due to Al-Kaf and Schärer being absent.

      Delete
  18. Atletico Madrid - Eintracht : Vincic, Klančnik, Kovačič, Jug, Borošak (SVN), van Boekel (NED)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Penalty awarded by Peljto which he rightly stuck with after an OFR:
    https://www.streambug.io/cv/c5efdd

    Overall, very good performance by the Bosnian referee in this game, who showed zero tolerance for hard fouls from the beginning of the match and generally interacted with the players in a positive way.

    ReplyDelete
  20. OFRs from Morocco-Spain:
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/ea4786
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/d4857d

    ReplyDelete
  21. OFRs from the remaining games yesterday.

    Brazil-Morocco (Mariani)
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/373abe
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/ab1ffb

    Cuba-Argentina (Nasaruddin)
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/94db21
    https://www.streambug.org/cv/66a195

    No challenges for Garcia Mendoza in Italy-Australia, but she did correctly award the Latin country a penalty (and resultant DOGSO-attempt yellow card) for a clear foul by the goalkeeper, which resulted in the game's only goal.

    ReplyDelete
  22. To Chefren or Mikael, I apologize if this topic already being discussed, what do you think about the future of VS, is it going to replace VAR or just alternatives for youth competition (to cut cost, number of officials, cameras, etc.)

    ReplyDelete

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