Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Who will referee 2026 FIFA World Cup Final?

After the final whistle of the second semifinal, it's time to make predictions. Who will officiate the big game between Spain and Argentina? 



Here the list of the referees who are still at the tournament. 


AFC

Alireza Faghani

Adham Makhadmeh


CAF

Jalal Jayed


CONCACAF

Ivan Barton

Ismail Elfath


CONMEBOL

Jesús Valenzuela

Wilton Sampaio


UEFA

Espen Eskås

Szymon Marciniak

Maurizio Mariani

Glenn Nyberg

João Pinheiro

Slavko Vinčić

62 comments:

  1. Vincic is the only European with the experience
    Would either team accept Valenzuela? I think he's been excellent
    My guess to preserve neutrality will be Faghani

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  2. FRA - ENG: Jesus Valenzuela VEN (FO: Jalal Jayed MAR)
    ESP - ARG: Alireza Faghani AUS (FO: Wilton Sampaio BRA)

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  3. Wilton Sampaio out after Argentina qualification for the final.
    Not a 100% for Valenzuela, but still in my opinion it would be hard to see him.
    On the contrary, if we apply same principle, we should say that a UEFA referee should be out, but we know that very often UEFA referees have been assigned to Argentina, even against UEFA national teams.
    Looking at the option, we would have Vincic as only candidate for this one, but given the situation UEFA - FIFA, a decision like this is very hard to predict. Also, the Slovenian didn't look to be in the spotlights to get a WC final.
    The only and fully neutral option, of course meaning outside UEFA and CONMEBOL, is Faghani.
    The Iranian referee could officiate this one, but I have doubts.
    After having handled the CWC final one year ago, I thought he wasn't planned.
    But now for sure we have options.
    All the other referees are rather unexpected and some of them already got appearance in semifinals as fourth officials.
    After all, my bet would be Faghani, but I'm not 100% convinced.
    Can Collina surprise us?

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    Replies
    1. What if he surprises us by appointing his favorite referee, Marciniak, and makes him a legend? I hope that doesn't happen.
      My prediction:
      Vinčić
      Faghani

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    2. @Chefren
      However, I wouldn't rule out Marciniak's chances in these last two matches. As for Alizera, his Iranian heritage might be a problem. Are you taking this into account?

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  4. First its obvious that Conmebol referees are out! Sampaio becouse of Argetina, Valenzuela due to fact that nobody is crazy to made an experiment in such games!
    This leads us to:
    1. Alireza Faghani as absolutley favourite to officiate that game, and he deserve it, after all in his carrer, and especially how he showed courage on Azteca!
    2.Vincic- high profile name,with top performances through all championship
    3. It would be history, but not imposiblez to repeat semifinal referee(Elfath after tonight top performance) in final!
    4. Adam Makhadmeh- good performances,but less possible!

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  5. Faghani is the only referee at this WC with 3 OFRs. So performance-wise he should be out.
    So it's between Valenzuela and Vincic. If they accept the South-American referee, it will be him. If not, the only option is Vincic. Performance-wise.

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    1. Yes, and one OFR was correct no call,other two was hard to spot! Valenzuela out!

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  6. Faghani as the last game before retirement. He has be in Argentina game in 2022 as well. So I think he’s the most possible candidate.

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  7. When will the appointment actually be released?

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  8. My bet :
    1. Faghani
    2. Valenzuela
    3. Vincic

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  9. If there were no tension between Ceferin and Infantino, I would definitely say Vinčić. Personally, I don't think they will give him the final for political reasons, as he is Ceferin's golden boy.

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  10. I dont beleive that Trump will approve a Irani referee in final into EUA. Then Faghani, Jayed and Makhadmeh are out.
    My prediction:

    3rd place (FRA-ENG)
    Referee: Vincic
    4th Official: Eskas

    Final (ESP-ARG)
    Referee: Sampaio
    4th Official: Valenzuela

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    Replies
    1. Brazilian referees do not officate Argentina games,never in history!

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    2. Can be the first. I’d say Faghani, but will be minimum comic if Trump will put a medal in his neck

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    3. Fab Gx- CWC 2025
      Phillip S - Speak about modern football, you remind me on me when spoke about Gonnella and Dinst :)))

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    4. Its true the brazilian Romualdo Arppi officiated final in 1986 Argentina vs Germany

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  11. Guys,Conmebol referees are out. Possible as Uefa referees. But, if you compare Vincic and Valenzuela, not possible, Vincic is much more bigger class! But, all of us now that FAGAHNI deserve it, and for his carrer, and for controling of high stakes matches!

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  12. Predictions:

    Final (ESP-ARG): FAGHANI, 4O SAMPAIO

    3rd Place (FRA-ENG): VINCIC/VALENZUALA, 4O MAKHADMEH

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  13. Final - Alireza Faghani
    4th official - Slavko Vincic

    3rd place - Jesus Valenzuela
    4th official - Adham Makhadmeh

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  14. Final: Spain - Argentina Faghani
    3rd place: France-England Valenzuela

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  15. My predictions:
    France - England: Jesus Valenzuela, Jorge Urriego, Tulio Moreno (all VEN), Wilton Sampaio (BRA) - Juan Lara (CHI), Marco di Bello (ITA), Joe Dickerson (USA)
    Spain - Argentina: Alireza Faghani, George Lakrindis, Andrew Lindsay (all AUS), Adham Makhadmeh (JOR) - Khamis Al Marri (QAT), Tatiana Guzman (NCA), Guillermo Pacheco (MEX)

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  16. Chefren, when we will know final referees?

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  17. I wouldn't be surprised if Faghani is appointed. Given a penalty wasn't given for France and had two OFR reviews in the same match for Mexico vs. England (I'm assuming this is more frowned upon) I didn't peg him to be the favorite. Don't get me wrong, Faghani showed his composure and ability to withstand the pressure at the Azteca.
    Vincic to me showed great personality and management in the clash of Mexico and Paraguay (he did have an OFR for mouth covering but I honestly think it would have been hard for any of the officials to catch it in real time).

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  18. Everyone will get a meltdown when FIFA appoints João Pinheiro as the referee for the final
    Here in Portugal this new would be amazing to shut up a lot of commentators on TV.
    Seriously speaking it’s hard to imagine another option than Faghani. He got lucky with England and France out (the games with more controversy)

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  19. Collina will be calling Paris to see if Turpin can get a red eye flight back to the USA

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  20. Collina will turn to his protege Marcinek. Someone with personality to control egos on the park.

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  21. If Trump were to choose the referee for the final, he would select Slavko Vincic because of his Slovenian wife. :D

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  22. Faghani had a photo with Trump from the ceremony last year on his Instagram account. It even got a record-breaking two million likes. He has deleted that post

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  23. Final - Slavko Vincic
    4th official - João Pinheiro

    3rd place - Adham Makhadmeh
    4th official - Jesús Valenzuela

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    Replies
    1. Vinci”s uncle Alexander and Collina are not fans of each other given veteran told Collina he could not be with uefa and fifa and put Rossetti in place. Add in veteran complaining about infantino and fifas handling of suspensions probably unlikely anuefa referee in middle

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    2. That sounds to me more like a soap opera than a serious position let alone a meaningful analysis!

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  24. Arbitres restants pour le tournoi après les désignations des demi-finales :

    (AFC)
    🇦🇺 Alireza Faghani
    🇯🇴 Adham Makhadmeh
    (CAF)
    🇲🇦 Jalal Jayed
    (CONMEBOL)
    🇻🇪 Jesús Valenzuela
    🇧🇷 Wilton Sampaio
    (UEFA)
    🇳🇴 Espen Eskås
    🇵🇱 Szymon Marciniak
    🇵🇹 João Pinheiro
    🇸🇮 Slavko Vinčić

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  25. Now it is obvious.
    Final Faghani, 4O Eskas
    3rd Vincic, 4O Makhadmeh

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  26. My prediction
    Argentina vs spain : joao pinheiro
    France vs england : jesus valenzuela

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  27. My prediction
    Argentina vs spain : joao pinheiro
    France vs england : jesus valenzuela

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  28. My prediction:

    Final: Faghani (ref) Eskas (4th)
    3rd place: Makhadmeh (ref) Sampaio (4th)

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  29. we football fans need our little boy BARTON for the final.

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  30. I'm still baffled/confused as to why Makkelie was not even retained..... Thoughts on why?

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  31. What's the thinking when it's two countries that share a language, better to have a Spanish speaker or someone who doesn't speak a word?

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    Replies
    1. The way that Argentina verbally abuse the referee ,earplugs are a better option

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  32. The referee will be the one that Argentina can manipulate the easiest.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe that makes Sampiao the choice for appearances.

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    2. My ideas about final: let’s consider out Barton and Elfath for thier apparence in the SF. Let’s rule out Pinheiro, Eskas, Nyberg, Mariani and Jayed for thier lack of experience. Sampaio is quite difficult to me for Angentina’s presence. Knowing Collina’s ego difficult to see Marciniak officiating 2 WC finals when Collina didn’t. Valanzuela is a good candidate to me. Vincic a strong one, skilled and experienced, allowing FIFA to re-establish good relationship with Uefa but Uefa already did final WC 2022. Faghani very strong candidate skilled, experienced and neutral in term of confederation but he already did CWC final last year. So why not the Jordan Mamhamed; he had an outstanding tournaments and Collina is indeed in favour towards Middle east countries (Qatar firstly). So finally I would say 30% each foe Vincic and Faghani, 35% Makhamed and 5% Valanzuela. But if I was in Collina’s shoes I would call back immediately Turpin, to me, overall the real best one

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  33. Well, it is very hard to predict referee for the final this time. I thought it will be no UEFA referee this time, but now it seems CONCACAF (they had both semifinals) and CONMEBOL (because of Argentina) referees are out. Marciniak almost certainly not (don't think he will get second final, but with Collina and Busacca is everything possible). Faghani or Vinčič makes sense to me, but both of them could be eliminated because of political reasons. Maybe Collina is going to surprise us and use one of the semifinals referees again, or it will be Faghani/Vinčič, who knows...

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  34. By confederation (1930–2022):
    UEFA (Europe) – 13 finals
    CONMEBOL (South America) – 5 finals
    CAF (Africa) – 1 final (Saïd Belqola of Morocco, 1998)
    CONCACAF – 0 finals
    AFC (Asia) – 0 finals
    OFC (Oceania) – 0 finals

    As Concafaf referee officiate both the semifinals so alireza from Afc is clearly favorite unless any exception occurred

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    Replies
    1. Mexican Edgardo Codesal Mendez from Concacaf did final in 1990 in Italy

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    2. CONCACAF 0 finals? Codesal Mendez from Mexico in 1990?

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  35. My final predictions:
    Final: Alireza Faghani
    3rd place: Adham Makhadmeh
    Given the current situation, using two AFC referees in the final two matches seems the most sensible option. Although Faghani's refereeing of last year's Club World Cup final had previously seemed unlikely, I've now changed my mind after realizing there are no other suitable names to replace him. Makhadmeh's presence in the third-place match should be a reward for his excellent performances in this tournament.

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  36. My ideas about final: let’s consider out Barton and Elfath for thier apparence in the SF. Let’s rule out Pinheiro, Eskas, Nyberg, Mariani and Jayed for thier lack of experience. Sampaio is quite difficult to me for Angentina’s presence. Knowing Collina’s ego difficult to see Marciniak officiating 2 WC finals when Collina didn’t. Valanzuela is a good candidate to me. Vincic a strong one, skilled and experienced, allowing FIFA to re-establish good relationship with Uefa but Uefa already did final WC 2022. Faghani very strong candidate skilled, experienced and neutral in term of confederation but he already did CWC final last year. So why not the Jordan Mamhamed; he had an outstanding tournaments and Collina is indeed in favour towards Middle east countries (Qatar firstly). So finally I would say 30% each foe Vincic and Faghani, 35% Makhamed and 5% Valanzuela. But if I was in Collina’s shoes I would call back immediately Turpin, to me, overall the real best one

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  37. Might as well name an Argentinian referee because they have been favoured all the way in this Tournament.

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  38. I feel like a lack of European referees in the last 2 games will definitely cause more tension between FIFA and UEFA, but genuinely other then maybe Vincic, the best UEFA referees have been sent home (Oliver, Turpin) for me! I would like to see Faghani in final but this World Cup is already unpredictable so who knows!

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  39. Portuguese and Brazilian referees won't be considered because they are neighbouring countries. Argentina will probably object to the Jordanian because he is a disciplinarian.Spain would object to the Venezuelan .so it leaves Faghani .

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  40. For the final Faghani looks like being the only logical option...
    For 3rd place Makhadmeh would be a good choice, but Valenzuela or Sampaio are logical, too - but if they take a Uefa - Ref, Collina might favour his comrade Mariani, or they give Marciniak or Vincic their farewell-match. That's quite unpredictable.

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  41. I don't think it will change much... We know how the game is going to go. Argentina is going to start the game with very hard fouls and playing dirty and whoever is assigned will have explicit instructions not to penalize it at all...

    Are there any referees left with enough personality and courage to protect the integrity of this final?

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  42. I'd suggest "adnane" for the final — if there's a "pelanty" in it, he'll spot it.

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