FIFA will hold a seminary for 2026 World Cup preselected referees from UEFA. It will take place in Zurich, Switzerland.
Zurich (Switzerland), 31 March - 3 April 2025
UEFA
1. Irfan Peljto BIH
2. Michael Oliver ENG
3. Anthony Taylor ENG
4. Jesús Gil Manzano ESP
5. José Maria Sánchez Martínez ESP
UEFA
1. Irfan Peljto BIH
2. Michael Oliver ENG
3. Anthony Taylor ENG
4. Jesús Gil Manzano ESP
5. José Maria Sánchez Martínez ESP
6. François Letexier FRA
7. Clément Turpin FRA
8. Daniel Siebert GER
9. Felix Zwayer GER
10. Marco Guida ITA
11. Maurizio Mariani ITA
12. Serdar Gözübüyük NED
13. Danny Makkelie NED
14. Espen Eskås NOR
15. Szymon Marciniak POL
16. João Pedro da Silva Pinheiro POR
17. István Kovács ROU18. Sandro Schärer SUI
19. Ivan Kružliak SVK
20. Slavko Vinčić SVN
21. Glenn Nyberg SWE
22. Halil Umut Meler TUR
Why not Massa rather than Guida and Mariani?
ReplyDeleteChanges after the last UEFA meeting, Sevilla 15 - 19 / 01/ 2024:
ReplyDeleteOUT
Srdan Jovanovic
Artur Dias (Retired)
Tess Olofsson
Davide Massa
Stéphanie Frappart
IN
Daniel Siebert
Marco Guida
To add, at that time no English referees were reported at the Spanish seminary one year ago, but this was strange and maybe better not to talk about changes or replacements, we have now both Oliver and Taylor.
One big point for discussion is what FIFA wants to do with women, it seems all have been removed from Men's preselections.
Exactly what I thought, the German race is not entirely over. Surely, they keep the competition alive on purpose, to keep both referees sharp. Daniel Siebert is currently in a good form imo.
DeleteI'm almost sure that FIFA will pick up Referees for the 1st edition of the Club World Cup this year from this list; so Massa is unexpectedly out also from such tournament
ReplyDeleteFor me, the highlight is not seeing Massa, the one who today seems to be Italy's number 1. Happy to see Marciniak and Oliver.
ReplyDeleteVery good from Fifa no Massa!
ReplyDeleteKruzliak dont deserve it.
Fifa is more neutrality than the uefa.
They would have put Massa, Obrenovic on the list!
I agree that Massa is very overvalued by UEFA. In my opinion, Guida is a little better than him and Mariani…I hope he recovers from his injury soon.
DeleteKruzliak seems to me a good referee tbh, only that in the games where he should take the "last step" there always ends up being some controversy.
If you assume that UEFA will again be represented by ten main referees at the 2026 World Cup and that those countries with two candidates will each provide one, 6 slots would already be taken by Germany, England, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, although I would not see for example Serdar Gözübüyük currently in the focus of either UEFA or FIFA; for me, this list reads more as if it would be easier to enforce with the support of some candidates that their countries "must" be represented.
ReplyDeleteBut wouldn't the increased number of teams and games suggest a higher number of referees as well? So rather around 15 UEFA referees?
DeleteSorry, you're right: I forgot that the World Cup 2026 will be expanded. So then you're more likely to face the opposite problem: you can't eliminate too many candidates.
DeleteThe intriguing story between Guida and Massa continues.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, at this point one could have expected Massa's choice, after Guida had managed to referee at the Euro.
One could have imagined that Guida's path was over, also considering the repeated difficulties with injuries throughout his career.
Instead, he remains the leading name with Mariani second-placed.
At this point, Massa's international career has been truly disappointing, and in my opinion not exclusively due to his fault, one disappointment after another.
Reserve for the 2020 EURO (promising choice by UEFA) but then, not called up for 2024.
The pre-selection for the 2026 World Championships includes him, but he is then excluded. one year later.
As I have often said, I believe that both he and Guida lack something and in some respects they can be defined as complete contrary referees, if one of the two had one of the qualities of the other, the result would be a strong referee. But obviously it cannot be like that.
Overall, however, Guida is not that much better than Massa (but for me he is, I agree with what Diego wrote), even if only very slightly. He is preferred because he is used to make strong decisions and manage players in a severe manner, something that Massa often omits just to think about bringing home his games, even if he has often changed his style to be better (but it didn't last long..). All in all, I think he would have deserved a call for a big event, given that we are not talking about Orsato and in the end the level is average but still tending towards low.
In all cases, Guida ahead could even be accepted by Massa, but being overtaken by Mariani is really bad: but it also must be said that Mariani was already on the list.
We will now see how much reliability Guida will give: currently still out due to injury, last match on December 22nd in Serie A.
However, this list was made during his injury, so this is not an element that changes the issue, and at this point the Campanian will really have to protect himself to arrive the next year to the top competition. But if not, at this point, it will be Mariani...
One should also try to explain then the UEFA appointments, even more you can say that the nationality is appointed and not the referee, otherwise Massa wouldn't have got those big games. Very often just seen as "Italian referee". And the feeling is that, if Guida available, he would have got most of it or maybe everything, leaving a few to Massa.
Nevertheless, I think he could be indeed rewarded with a UEFA final, to give him something after such disappointments... either Conference League or Europa League finals are possible, if not Italian teams there, and you can explain in this way the observation by Velasco Carballo.But still.. very strange management.
Completely agree. The next few months will be decisive, along with the appointment of referees for the club world championship next month... Any predictions? Since we know all the pre-selected referees from all the confederations it is more appropriate to make predictions, I will try to make some and soon I will share them.
DeleteRegarding CWC predictions, there are two approaches. And I am not sure, which one is closer to FIFA's idea. Firstly, I thought, it would make sense to focus on referees with little FIFA experience, i.e. excluding WC22 referees Marciniak, Oliver, Turpin, Makkelie, Siebert, Taylor and Vincic.
DeleteBut it seems also possible, that they make the strongest possible selection for the CWC and use the other officials at U20/U17WCs this year.
Same question obviously for all confederations.
So, I think the current top selection for UEFA would be
Kovacs, Marciniak, Letexier, Turpin, Vincic, Zwayer, Gil Manzano, Eskas, Makkelie, Oliver
If we exclude WC22 referees, we could maybe get
Kovacs, Letexier, Nyberg, Eskas, Zwayer, Gözübüyük, Peljto, Gil Manzano, Schärer, Mariani
- How many games has Guida in 2025 in Serie A and for Uefa ?
ReplyDeleteAs Chefren wrote above, his last game was December 22, 2024.
DeleteOT: Chefren, I have a stupid question:
ReplyDeleteFrom where do you take the clips you post here? Because you do a screen recording right? But since you have to pay for some channels (e.g. DAZN, Sky), is it legally ok to share these screen recordings here on the blog? Because I noticed that you some times share recordings of some Eastern European channels. Is that connected to the topic?
I would really appreciate your answer because I‘m not sure if it’s legal to share a screen recordings from a pay-TV-Plattform.
I would really appreciate an answer because if you say it’s legal (which I guess it is because you do it all the time), I could also start publishing videos and help the blog.
DeleteAbout the quarter finals of the UEFA tournaments:
ReplyDeleteI think we can conclude that UEFAs RefCom has applied the performance principle so far. Nyberg (2 OFRs) and Mariani (soft YC) were not assigned in R16, neither was Meler. Question is, will we see them again and where? I think Conference- or Europa League might be possible for Nyberg and Mariani. Not sure about Meler, also due the situation in Turkey unfortunately. But I’m sure he’ll return stronger.
If the trend continues, I doubt we will see Kruzliak and Bastien in the next round. Not sure about Schärer and Massa either (perhaps UEL or UECL).
Turpin vs Letexier is interesting. Kuipers' observation indicates that Letexier is in focus to handle a UEFA final. A logical path is QF UCL -> no semi-final -> Final.
On the other hand, I agree with one of the comments that Turpin deserves a Nations League final if Les Bleus don’t make it. I am curious about his next appointment after the famous RC to AS Roma. Normally, Turpin will get QF UEL + SF UCL.
In the Barcelona/Dortmund tie we may see an Englishman. Taylor has indeed not whistled any German teams since the EURO. The question is whether that trend will be broken. Oliver is not having his best season tbh.
A German and Spanish in the QF UCL seems logical to me. Probably Zwayer and Gil Manzano.
Makkelie whistled himself into the quarter-finals. The way he handled the first minutes yesterday is textbook example of how a referee can calm down things with early YCs and a very strong body language. A game that ended 11 vs 9 in the first tie, was under full control in the decisive 2nd tie.
Kovacs, Marciniak, Vincic are options in the QF given their performances and neutral passports. Possible to save one or two for a semi-final UCL. I hope to see Peljto in the QF as well.
I don't think, you can exclude everyone with a bad game. Otherwise the options become too limited. So I think, Nyberg and Massa still have chances for another CL game. More difficult for the others, who you have mentioned in the first paragraph.
DeleteIn EL and ECL, all the referees, who did a CL KO game should still be possible, I think.
For Turpin, the question is, how much the EL game in Bilbao will harm him. It should not, but we know the problem with Italian losers. Otherwise both French should get as much as possible IMO. So I would like to see both in CL QF and one of them in the SF.
Oliver in Barcelona-Dortmund is indeed quite possible, but I think, a direct SF would also be an option.
I agree on Zwayer and Gil Manzano, they seem (at least) slightly ahead of their countrymen.
Unless they are spared for a SF, of course. Then it could be a chance for Sanchez/Siebert.
For the finals, it's quite simple, I think. Everyone, who is a serious candidate for the QF should also be considered for the finals (except those, who already did them). If someone is not an option for a CL QF, he also shouldn't be for even the ECL final IMO.
The rest then has to be decided depending on the next performances and the teams playing in the finals.
I like Nyberg a lot. Not sure about that UCL QF prediction though. Benfica-Monaco wasn’t a convincing performance and not just because of the OFRs. I doubt a referee would instantly return in a QF UCL after a poor report in the play-off and missing the R16 round entirely.
DeleteRegarding Massa, it will depend on whether Rosetti backs him after the PSG game. But it seems really odd to be a candidate for UCL QF and at the same time, being excluded on the World Cup shortlist!
Now that we are talking about Guida's injury and the time he has been off the field, well, in CONCACAF there is a similar case with Ismail Elfath who has also attended all the seminars, but has not refereed an official game since June 22, 2024 (Mexico-Jamaica/Copa America) !!
ReplyDeleteAlmost a year is a very long time and maybe one should start to be worried.
DeleteI don't know how many opportunities has a CONCACAF referee to be appointed in the various months of the year (like the UEFA Calendar), but I think we should see the US referee soon again to consider him a real candidate.
To be honest, he has been reported as very strong name, but we can remember the last WC and in my opinion he is not.
Hope he will prove I'm wrong :)
Did you think that they will push Tori Penso instead Elfath? Still I didn't understand why Elfath was a strong name back then and h2h with Marciniak at Qatar.
DeleteOT:
ReplyDeleteBartosz Frankowski came back to Polish top tier on 1st March. A pity that he was rejected by FIFA because, imo, in a ranking of referees with the most professional approach he would be in the top...
Today, he faced two interesting incidents in Pogoń Szczecin - Cracovia Kraków:
03' - penalty awarded; very soft, one can even argue that VAR should've intervened
https://streambug.org/cv/28a7c0
60' - YC upgraded to RC for SFP after OFR; studs in the head/face always scream for red card but - given that the contact was not strong and that the player committing the offence most likely didn't see his opponent while performing his challenge - should VAR intervene here?
https://streambug.org/cv/cc951b
Is there any possibility for Frankowski to make a return in the 2026 list? Are there any jurisprudence or similar cases from the past?
Delete