Appointments of match officials at 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, Round of 16.
Saturday 28 June 2025, 18:00 CET
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Palmeiras (BRA) - Botafogo (BRA)
Referee:François Letexier FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Cyril Mugnier FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Mehdi Rahmouni FRA
Fourth Official: Glenn Nyberg SWE
Fifth Official: Mahbod Beigi SWE
Video Assistant Referee: Jerome Brisard FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Support Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert GER
Saturday 28 June 2025, 22:00 CET
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
SL Benfica (POR) - Chelsea (ENG)
Referee: Slavko Vinčić SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovačič SVN
Fourth Official: Said Martinez HON
Fifth Official: Walter Lopez HON
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández ESP
Support Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
Sunsday 29 June 2025, 18:00 CET
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Paris Saint Germain (FRA) - Inter Miami (USA)
Referee: Wilton Sampaio BRA
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Boschilia BRA
Assistant Referee 2: Bruno Pires BRA
Fourth Official: Mustapha Ghorbal ALG
Fifth Official: Mokrane Gourari ALG
Video Assistant Referee:
Assistant Video Assistant Referee:
Support Video Assistant Referee:
Sunsday 29 June 2025, 22:00 CET
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
Flamengo (BRA) - Bayern München (GER)
Referee: Michael Oliver ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt ENG
Assistant Referee 2: James Mainwaring ENG
Fourth Official: Cristian Garay CHI
Fifth Official: Miguel Rocha CHI
Video Assistant Referee:
Assistant Video Assistant Referee:
Support Video Assistant Referee:
Prediction 29.06.2025
ReplyDeleteParis Saint-Germain - Inter Miami CF Facundo Tello ARG
Flamengo - Bayern Munich César Ramos MEX
Completely agree. Faghani for Inter-Fluminense and Sampaio for Dortmund-Monterrey it’s my idea.
DeleteAgree to Sampaio.Inter-Fluminense expecting Barton.
DeleteBarton for the potential Manchester City-Al Hilal IMO.
DeleteYou guys think Tello gets Messi and Mascherano (and the other 7 Argentinian players on Miami)? It's more of a conflict than Michael Oliver getting Manchester City.
DeleteFalcón did with Atlético (Simeone,De Paul,Álvarez…) so I don’t see a problem.
DeleteI would suggest Miami is several degrees of difference. But I could be wrong.
DeleteWhat is with Turpin long slevee jersey style? :)
ReplyDeleteI think because of the name on the back of the shirt the maybe don't give long sleeves and with the heat he choose the short sleeves which is always weird to see him like this.
DeleteI’m sure that FIFA provides their referees with short and long sleeve jerseys. And they both have the referees surname emblazoned on the upper back.
DeleteTurpin seemingly prefers to wear long sleeve jerseys. With the sleeves typically pulled up to the elbows. Maybe it’s for comfort or just his personal style.
OT: Quarterfinals Gold Cup 2025
ReplyDeletePanama-Honduras: Katia Garcia (MEX)
Mexico-Saudi Arabia: Lukasz Szpala (USA)
United States-Costa Rica: Wálter López (GUA)
Canada-Guatemala: Keylor Herrera (CRC)
Seems Nation (JAM), Escobar (GUA), Calderón (CRC) are the candidates for SF or even the Final.
Unsurprisingly a U.S. referee is once again assigned to a Mexico knockout round game. The memories of Geiger refuse to die. CONCACAF either doesn’t learn from past mistakes or more than likely, just straight up doesn’t care. Whatever it takes to get that US v Mexico Final, right?
Delete#CONCACAFed
To see what she’s truly made of and truly capable of. Part me hopes that Panamá v Honduras is played like one of those hot blooded, fierce, physical, hot tempered, intense, bordering on violent true Central American clashes. Sink or swim Katia.
DeleteSpare me. This is tiring.
DeleteWhat is the alternative? You yourself have railed against all the other CONCACAF referees.
If Szpala performed well and warrants a QF match, then what do you do? There are only four games. And he referees in the US and Canada. Also, the US just had three Mexican referees.
Do you want Cornejo or Williams on the Mexico-Saudi match instead? Then you'd be going on about a subpar official. Some people just want to complain.
Nation (JAM), Escobar (GUA), Calderón (CRC). All better options. Also options that don’t lend themselves to the long established narrative. But hey, if CONCACAF is okay with burning off one of their newer FIFA referees. So be it
DeleteI think CONCACAF is hungry to find its new USA#1, Penso is performing very well but they need a masculine name, understandable. Dickerson did well in his last game, we'll see how Szpala does... Surely a spicy game.
DeleteThe same for Katia, the most important game of her career so far. Lopez with an expected task and surprises the young Herrera.
I don't think Escobar will repeat a final after Nations, I feel it's a duel to the death between Nation and Calderón, we'll see who prefers CONCACAF.
IMHO, Katia’s match is a bigger test compared to anything on Penso’s “men’s” resume.
DeleteAt this point I'm not sure what the rules are surrounding the "cooling break". 22C in Philadelphia, pouring rain, and they still opt for a cooling break in RMA - SAL. Odd to me
ReplyDeleteThe other day at Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA). It was a pleasant 68 Fahrenheit (20 Celsius) when they inexplicably took a “cooling break”. It was a few degrees cooler by the 2nd half, and sure enough. There was a “cooling break”.
DeleteI think that "cooling break"is just a compromise between Fifa and US.
DeleteAs we know USA viewers find it weird that players can go 45 minutes non stop without a single break.
No break means no commercials and product placements.
So this cooling break I think serves as compromise and something in between all of that.
You get mini show with some music on the field,on TV you get quick commercials and players are resting for 2 3 minutes.
So for this continent and viewers,it's good idea.
For me, it's a good idea for other tournaments. Some dead matches saw the performance improved after that. It's like volleyball, or nba, but with less stops.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see what the plan is for Michael Oliver and whether he will be appointed to a second match. In a way, it would be admirable if Collina were to assign him to Real vs. Juventus, disregarding the criticism from the Italian media—unlike Rosetti. However, that seems unlikely, and Marciniak appears the more probable choice.
ReplyDeleteA potential quarter-final between PSG and Bayern is a possibility, and will be Oliver’s game, but an all-UEFA fixture is by no means guaranteed after such a long and demanding season. This might well be a tournament where non-UEFA teams could cause an upset—especially given the tropical conditions and lower pace.
There is also the prospect of an Inter vs. City quarter-final. Should that fixture materialize, Turpin would be the likely candidate to officiate. An alternative is Zwayer.
I agree regarding Oliver. Just to add that a RMA-BVB QF also seems an option for him.
DeleteFor Inter-City, I would also consider Makkelie.
@Philipp,
DeleteI cannot judge Makkelie’s recent performances at the FIFA Club World Cup, as I didn’t see his matches. However, the way FIFA managed him at the 2022 World Cup was difficult to justify in my opinion. After officiating Poland vs. Argentina on 30 November, Makkelie remained in Qatar for 3 weeks until the final on 18 December — without a single appointment, not even as fourth official. This, after being named UEFA’s top referee earlier that year and missing out on the Champions League final, reflects poorly on FIFA’s referee management.
Such decisions carry a psychological weight. Unfortunately, UEFA and FIFA have a track record of questionable HR practices when it comes to elite referees.
For the upcoming CWC quarterfinals, I suspect FIFA will turn to experienced names like Turpin, and possibly even offer an opportunity to Zwayer. Still, I hope Makkelie is given a meaningful role at future tournaments; the FIFA Arab Cup 2025, for example. He has always shown strong performances in the Arab region.
To be honest, I expect a QF for Makkelie. He delivered two good performances in both Flamengo vs. Espérance and Al Hilal vs. Pachuca. These matches had the potential to become heated, considering the teams playing styles and contrasting mentalities. Makkelie is also among the referees who have managed their games without any VAR interventions, red cards, mass confrontations or major protests and he stayed out of the spotlight throughout. But let’s wait and see, more referees are doing good.
DeleteA third match will be difficult for Makkelie. Too many good referees, too few available matches. Unless FIFA decides to break confederation neutrality. We’re likely to see a maximum of five UEFA officials in the knockout stage. We already know about Letexier and Vincic. Next up are Marciniak and Oliver (both have only officiated one match so far). And the 5th is most likely Turpin — especially in a high-paced, all-UEFA affaire like Inter vs City.
DeleteIt was a calm and solid night for Beida and Makkelie. Both controlled the match without any issues. There were no difficult or controversial situations. Real Madrid and Al Hilal were clearly the better teams.
ReplyDeletePredictions for remaining R16
ReplyDeletePSG-MIA: Tello (ARG) - Tantashev (UZB) - Gonzalez (URU), Gallo (COL), Ming (CHN)
FLA-BAY: Ghorbal (ALG) - Beida (MTN) - Ashour (EGY), El Fariq (MAR), Guzman (NCA)
INT-FLU: Barton (SLV) - Ramos - Pacheco, Miranda (all MEX), Mohammed (UAE)
MCI-HIL: Valenzuela (VEN) - Garay (CHI) - Soto (VEN), Mastrangelo (ARG), Lara (CHI)
RMA-JUV: Marciniak (POL) - Fischer (CAN) - Kwiatkowski (POL), Evans (AUS), Al Marri (QAT)
BVB-CFM: Faghani (AUS) - Sy (SEN) - Guzman (NCA), Villareal (USA), Ashour (EGY)
Solid game by Beida ... He confirms my opinion that he is among the best ones in Africa, alongside Ndala Ngambo and Artan.
ReplyDeleteI'm just reading the name "Artan" for the first time, but I realize that he officiated the CAF Champions League final four weeks ago and a semi-final last season, while not having handled another match in that competition for almost three years after his debut in 2020. Do we know more about him? How did his meteoric rise within Africa come about over the past two seasons - and why has FIFA seemingly not taken the same notice of him?
DeletePeter, he officiated games at the last AFCON edition and we commented him on the blog. He showed quite good skills, but indeed, the management of CL final assignments by CAF is weird, they don't work on the "quantity of games", but they just appoint a name if think he's ready for that, same was for Ibrahim Mutaz, if I'm notr wrong, got CL final without many assignments in that competitions before, but indeed he had shown good skills in other tournaments.
DeleteAddendum: I just asked the artificial intelligence why Omar Abdulkadir Artan was hardly present internationally in the years 2021 and 2022. It attributes this to the political and social instability in Somalia, which also led to FIFA training programs being suspended.
DeleteThat’s totally useless, AI doesn’t know anything special. What it does know, it probably got from this blog!
DeleteI wonder how much logistics plays a role in Africa more than other continents. It can’t be easy to get referees especially from Libya (Ibrahim) or Somalia (Artan) everywhere… I’d love to read more about this.
Very good for Beida and Makkelie. Both expected in KO stage, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe referee from Mauritania should be at this point ahead of Ghorbal, and I think we can expect him and not the Algerian, also based on the quality of assignments. Still talking about CAF, like other confederations, it seems as Collina had already his ranking in mind and this was:
1) Beida
2) Ghorbal
3) Sy
But the referee from Mauritania had to pass the exam before something big and I think he passed it...
We will see!
Tbh I could also imagine that the plan for African refs was always that Beida gets 2 good/important group stage games but Ghorbal gets a R16 (if ok performances are shown in his GS games, which was the case I think).
DeleteBecause if Beida‘s very late MD3 game had caused some trouble/headlines (which definitely would have been possible because of the importance of the match), FIFAs Plan would have had to be changed on short notice.
Therefore I expect Ghorbal as referee and Beida as 4O in either Flamengo-Bayern or Dortmund-Monterrey.
An offside clip from Zwayer game, I had missed it.
ReplyDeletehttps://streambug.org/cv/d9acc2
While I agree with the final decision to consider the player active because close to keeper and making a movement like he wanted to play the ball, one should continue to wonder how much clear and obvious mistakes these situations are. I would be sure that in other circumstances, referee wouldn't have been called to assess it, considering it supportable. For sure, something should be said because we all know these are grey area in most of cases (maybe this one a bit less than others we saw, but OK...), but again it's not possible that we see diffeernt interpretation from VAR, the final decision should be always related to what the crew has assessed on the field.
Imo this is very similar to the situation that happened with Marcus Rashford in the Manchester derby a few years back and was heavily discussed in English media afterwards. Howard Webb actually supported no intervention from VAR in that case but still said that he would expect offside to be given in similar situation.
DeleteThis was just Dankert going by what football expects and with FIFA and their philosophy in regards to the technology, I think they will support that.
Are there any referees currently officiating at the FCWC whom you realistically expect not to make the 2026 World Cup squad?
ReplyDeleteWithin UEFA, there are still opportunities for the likes of Peljto, Schärer, Meler, the Italians and the Spaniards to strengthen their case, particularly via the FIFA U-21. Who would you consider to be on the borderline in/out at this stage?
As for the other confederations, the picture seems a bit clearer imo, though the AFC remains as opaque as ever.
I can tell you who will be there (albeit undeservingly) because his country is one of the host nations.
DeleteI think that there will be more referees at next year’s World Cup than at the CWC (48 teams vs. 32). Therefore, I think that the selection for the WC will be more or less an extended version of the set of referees currently attending CWC.
DeleteMy guess is 13 UEFA officials and 1 support referee
DeleteConfederation neutrality broken....
ReplyDeleteOne should really wonder how much stupid is to keep it until a certain point, and then to stop it. Since this always happens in FIFA tournaments, what is the sense?
DeleteIt wasn’t necessary to break confederation neutrality now.
DeleteThis confirms imo that assignments up to and including the Round of 16 are largely pre-arranged by FIFA — ensuring that all UEFA officials receive two matches, except those whose 1st performance fell short of expectations.
IMO, it also indicates that outside UEFA there are only a few available Referees for UEFA/CONMEBOL clashes
DeleteIf UEFA referee’s are regularly assigned to these matches. Why isn’t the courtesy extended in the other direction? CONMEBOL referees in UEFA v CONMEBOL matches.
DeleteHaving this confirmed, I’d say:
ReplyDeleteMan City-Al Hilal: Dahane MTN
Inter-Fluminense: Barton SLV
Dortmund-Monterrey: Tello ARG
Real Madrid-Juvuentus: Marciniak or Makkelie
Or even Zwayer in RMA-JUV, it looks that having a team of your same country in the other key doesn’t matter
DeleteNow that the group stage has come to an end and before we start the knockout phase. Can we discuss, in the opinion of the readers.
ReplyDelete1) What referee was the worst?
2) What referee was a disappointment?
3) What referee was the revelation?
4) What referee was the best?
1) Drew Fischer
2) Isvan Kovacs
3) Dahane Beida
4) Ramon Abatti
Nothing against Oliver, but something is not right about fielding a judge from the same confederation for the Flamengo vs Bayern game. The Brazilian club's board of directors should contest this choice.
ReplyDelete