FIFA has finally released the list of selected officials for 2026 World Cup, to be played in Canada, Mexico and USA. Team One is ready!
Referees
Abdulrahman AL JASSIM
Khalid AL TURAIS
Yusuke ARAKI
Omar Abdulkadir ARTAN
Pierre ATCHO
Ivan BARTON
Dahane BEIDA
Juan Gabriel BENITEZ
Juan CALDERON
Raphael CLAUS
Ismail ELFATH
Espen ESKAS
Alireza FAGHANI
Yael FALCON PEREZ
Drew FISCHER
Cristian GARAY
Katia GARCIA
Mustapha GHORBAL
Alejandro HERNANDEZ
Dario HERRERA
Jalal JAYED
Campbell-Kirk KAWANA-WAUGH
Istvan KOVACS
Francois LETEXIER
Ning MA
Adham MAKHADMEH
Danny MAKKELIE
Szymon MARCINIAK
Maurizio MARIANI
Hector Said MARTINEZ
Amin MOHAMED
Oshane NATION
Glenn NYBERG
Michael OLIVER
Omar AL ALI
Kevin ORTEGA
Tori PENSO
Joao PINHEIRO
Ramon ABBATI
Cesar RAMOS
Andres ROJAS
Sandro SCHAERER
Ilgiz TANTASHEV
Anthony TAYLOR
Gustavo TEJERA
Facundo TELLO
Abongile TOM
Clement TURPIN
Jesus VALENZUELA
Slavko VINCIC
Wilton SAMPAIO
Felix ZWAYER
Assistant Referees
Amos ABEIGNE
Mahmoud ABOUELREGAL
Mostafa AKARKAD
Mohammed AL ABAKRY
Mohamed AL HAMMADI
Mohammad AL KALAF
Saoud AL MAQALEH
Taleb AL MARRI
Ahmad AL ROALLE
Lyes ARFA
Kyle ATKINS
Carlos BARREIRO
Micheal BARWEGEN
Isaak BASHEVKIN
Mahbod BEIGI
Juan Pablo BELATTI
Gary BESWICK
Daniele BINDONI
Marco BISGUERRA
Zakaria BRINSI
Bruno BOSCHILIA
Bruno PIRES
Stuart BURT
Eduardo CARDOZO
Gabriel CHADE
Danilo MANIS
Nicolas DANOS
Stephane DE ALMEIDA
Jan DE VRIES
Maximiliano DEL YESSO
Christian DIETZ
Boris DITSOGA
Jan Erik ENGAN
Rodrigo FIGUEIREDO
Timur GAYNULLIN
Mokrane GOURARI
Alexander GUZMAN
Ahmed HOSSAM TAHA
Jerson SANTOS
Bruno JESUS
Robert KEMPTER
Tomaz KLANCNIK
Andraz KOVACIC
Adam KUPSIK
George LAKRINDIS
James LINDSAY
Tomasz LISTKIEWICZ
Walter LOPEZ
Luciano MAIA
James MAINWARING
Mihai MARICA
Brooke MAYO
Jun MIHARA
Juan Carlos MORA
David MORAN
Tulio MORENO
Alberto MORIN
Cyril MUGNIER
Josè Enrique NARANJO
Cristian NAVARRO
Kathryn NESBITT
Elvis NOUPUE
Adam NUNN
Michael ORUE
Benjamin PAGES
Corey PARKER
Antonio PUPIRO
Rafael ALVES
Christian RAMIREZ
Sandra RAMIREZ
Mehdi RAHMOUNI
Jose RETAMAL
Miguel ROCHA
Facundo RODRIGUEZ
Milciades SALDIVAR
Diego SANCHEZ
Zakhele SIWELA
Andreas SODERKVIST
Hessel STEEGSTRA
Nicolas TARAN
Alberto TEGONI
Isaac TREVIS
Andrey TSAPENKO
Ferencz TUNYOGI
Jorge URREGO
Caleb WALES
Abbes Akram ZERHOUNI
Fei ZHOU
Video Match Officials
Khamis AL-MARRI
Abdullah ALSHEHRI
Mahmoud ASHOUR
Ivan BEBEK
Jerome BRISARD
Bastian DANKERT
Carlos DEL CERRO GRANDE
Marco DI BELLO
Joe DICKERSON
Rob DIEPERINK
Hamza EL FARIQ
Shaun EVANS
Fu MING
Nicolas GALLO
Antonio GARCIA
Jarred GILLETT
Leodan GONZALEZ
Tatiana GUZMAN
Dennis HIGLER
Tomasz KWIATKOWSKI
Juan LARA
Hernan MASTRANGELO
Erick MIRANDA
Mohammed OBAID KHADIM
Guillermo PACHECO
Fedayi SAN
Juan SOTO
Rodolpho TOSKI
Bram VAN DRIESSCHE
Armando VILLARREAL
Big surpise..
ReplyDeleteWhat is the suprise ??
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all officials selected
ReplyDeleteSome surprises,not just one...
ReplyDeleteSo we have to form trios to figure out, who is planned as reserve referee, right?
ReplyDeleteBecause there are not two ARs for every referee.
Schärer is a reserve referee, his AR2 Jonas Erni isn‘t on the list.
DeleteSame for Hernández Hernández, AR Diego Sánchez Rojo is on the list, but not José Enrique Naranjo Perez
DeleteCongrats Felix for your hard work. 🥹 and Congrats to all of the referees 🩷
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for joao pinheiro the best referee in Europe now
ReplyDeleteSource? PDF-file?
ReplyDeleteNo info at fifa.com
Delete52 Referees, 8 AFC, 15 UEFA, 7 CAF, 9 CONCACAF, 12 CONMEBOL, 1 OCEANIA. I think that 12 of them will be just a support referee.
ReplyDelete2 AFC, 2/3 UEFA (Schares for sure), 2 CAF, 2 CONCACAF, 3/4 CONMEBOL (one brazilian Claus (?), one argentinian (Herrera?) and Rojas).
Hernandez Hernandez seems just a support referee.
DeleteFrom Concacaf, Nation will be a support for sure, probably Garcia and Calderon (or Martinez).
From Afc Ma, Akari and Makhadmeh ?
Artan, Tom, Araki, Al-Ali, Ma, Nation, Calderon, Garcia, D. Herrera, Claus, Ortega, Rojas, Hernandez and Scharer?
DeleteThere are sixteen host venues so fourteen reserves, give-or-take, looks about right?
Wow, Al-Turais and Kawana didn't get a second linesman either and must be reserve! So it seems a perfect sixteen by FIFA.
DeleteUnlike Penso (Nesbitt, Mayo) it seems García only has one of her ARs (Ramírez, Karen Díaz is missing) with her, indicating Support duty.
ReplyDeleteSo, no source?
ReplyDelete17 referees only have one AR. Are they all reserved? So many?
ReplyDeleteAm I missing one? I counted:
DeleteAFC (4): Al-Ali, Al-Turais, Araki, Ma
CAF (2): Artan, Tom
CONCACAF (3): Calderon, Garcia, Nation
CONMEBOL (4): Claus, Herrera, Ortega, Rojas
OFC (1): Kawana
UEFA (2): Hernandez, Scharer
Big surprise Al Turais and Kawana...
DeleteSo It seems 36 referees and 16 support referee (reserve).
35+17
DeleteSánchez Martínez OUT. Wow!!! Yesterday Rossetti was observing his match. Could be a punish for this weak performance and others this season in UCL (Atalanta-Bayern)
ReplyDeleteEven if he was chosen he would have probably only acted as FO like Hernandez will be.
DeleteReferees with trios:
ReplyDeleteAFC: Makhadmeh, Al-Jassim, Faghani & Tantashev
CAF: Beida, Omar, Ghorbal, Atcho & Jayed
Concacaf: Elfath, Penso, Ramos, Fischer, Barton & Martínez
Conmebol: Sampaio, Abatti, Tello, Falcón, Valenzuela, Garay, Tejera & Benítez
UEFA: Turpin, Letexier, Oliver, Taylor, Makkelie, Marciniak, Mariani, Nyberg, Eskas, Pinheiro, Vincic, Zwayer
Referees without trios:
AFC: Ma Ning, Araki, Al-Ali & Al-Turais
CAF: Artan & Tom
Concacaf: Calderón, García & Nation
Conmebol: Rojas, Claus, Herrera & Ortega
UEFA: Hernández Hernández & Schärer
OFC: Kawana-Waugh
And Kovacs with trios.
DeleteDo you think the ones without 2ARs will be reserved? Also the same case for last World Cup?
ReplyDeleteRosetti should just resign. He has successfully messed up UEFA referees and refereeing.
ReplyDeleteWith SAOT do we still need an AVR2 who is an assistant ?
ReplyDeleteIt was obvious he wasn't going to be picked due to not being at recent seminars but still think Siebert will consider himself unlucky. Bad few years for Spain with only 1 group game for Manzano in 2024 and now Hernandez likely to only be FO this tournament (Only 1 AR picked) which is a good achievement for him but he's been helped by Manzano and Martinez struggling.
ReplyDeleteNo surprises for England although it's interesting that Oliver has had a different AR2 for the last 3 international tournaments (despite his previous ones still being on FIFA list)
DeleteWll Omar abdikadir artan wad gaartay hamigaga oo aha in magacaga la arko shashadaha dunida mida ogu sareysa ee ah inad kamid noqotay fifa best
ReplyDeleteHampalyo sxp
UEFA
ReplyDeleteAnthony TAYLOR : Gary BESWICK, Adam NUNN
Clement TURPIN : Nicolas DANOS, Benjamin PAGES
Danny MAKKELIE : Hessel STEEGSTRA, Jan DE VRIES
Espen ESKAS : Jan Erik ENGAN, Isaak BASHEVKIN
Felix ZWAYER : Robert KEMPTER, Christian DIETZ
Francois LETEXIER : Cyril MUGNIER, Mehdi RAHMOUNI
Glenn NYBERG : Mahbod BEIGI, Andreas SODERKVIST
Istvan KOVACS : Mihai MARICA, Ferencz TUNYOGI
Joao PINHEIRO : Bruno JESUS, Luciano MAIA
Maurizio MARIANI : Daniele BINDONI, Alberto TEGONI
Sandro SCHAERER : Stephane DE ALMEIDA*
Slavko VINCIC : Tomaz KLANCNIK, Andraz KOVACIC
Szymon MARCINIAK : Tomasz LISTKIEWICZ, Adam KUPSIK
CONMEBOL
Andres ROJAS : Alexander GUZMAN*
Cristian GARAY : Jose RETAMAL, Miguel ROCHA
Dario HERRERA : Cristian NAVARRO*
Facundo TELLO : Juan Pablo BELATTI, Gabriel CHADE
Gustavo TEJERA : Carlos BARREIRO*
Jesus VALENZUELA : Jorge URREGO, Tulio MORENO
Juan Gabriel BENITEZ : Eduardo CARDOZO, Milciades SALDIVAR
Kevin ORTEGA : Michael ORUE*
Ramon ABBATI : Danilo MANIS, Rafael ALVES
Wilton SAMPAIO : Bruno BOSCHILIA, Bruno PIRES
Yael FALCON PEREZ : Maximiliano DEL YESSO, Facundo RODRIGUEZ
CONCACAF
Cesar RAMOS : Alberto MORIN, Marco BISGUERRA
Drew FISCHER : Micheal BARWEGEN, Lyes ARFA
Ismail ELFATH : Kyle ATKINS, Corey PARKER
Ivan BARTON : David MORAN, Antonio PUPIRO
Juan CALDERON : Juan Carlos MORA*
Katia GARCIA : Sandra RAMIREZ*
Said MARTINEZ : Walter LOPEZ, Christian RAMIREZ
Tori PENSO : Brooke MAYO, Kathryn NESBITT
CAF
Amin MOHAMED : Mahmoud ABOUELREGAL, Ahmed HOSSAM TAHA
Dahane BEIDA : Jerson SANTOS*
Mahmood Ali Mahmood ISMAIL : Elvis NOUPUE*
Mustapha GHORBAL : Mokrane GOURARI, Abbes Akram ZERHOUNI
AFC
Abdulrahman AL JASSIM : Taleb AL MARRI, Saoud AL MAQALEH
Adham MAKHADMEH : Ahmad AL ROALLE, Mohammad AL KALAF
Khalid AL TURAIS : Mohammed AL ABAKRY*
Ning MA : Fei ZHOU*
OFC
Campbell-Kirk KAWANA-WAUGH : Isaac TREVIS*
Without Assistants referee
Abongile TOM
Alejandro HERNANDEZ
Alireza FAGHANI
Jalal JAYED
Omar Abdulkadir ARTAN
Omar AL ALI
Oshane NATION
Pierre ATCHO
Raphael CLAUS
Yusuke ARAKI
made with IA
"Made with AI"
DeleteYeah, colour me surprised.
say thank you and stfu
DeleteWhy would I say thank you when it's so blantantly wrong lmao
DeleteUEFA
DeleteAnthony TAYLOR : Gary BESWICK, Adam NUNN
Michael OLIVER : Stuart BURT, James MAINWARING
Clement TURPIN : Nicolas DANOS, Benjamin PAGES
Francois LETEXIER : Cyril MUGNIER, Mehdi RAHMOUNI
Sandro SCHAERER : Stephane DE ALMEIDA*
Danny MAKKELIE : Hessel STEEGSTRA, Jan DE VRIES
Espen ESKAS : Jan Erik ENGAN, Isaak BASHEVKIN
Felix ZWAYER : Robert KEMPTER, Christian DIETZ
Glenn NYBERG : Mahbod BEIGI, Andreas SODERKVIST
Istvan KOVACS : Mihai MARICA, Ferencz TUNYOGI
Joao PINHEIRO : Bruno JESUS, Luciano MAIA
Maurizio MARIANI : Daniele BINDONI, Alberto TEGONI
Szymon MARCINIAK : Tomasz LISTKIEWICZ, Adam KUPSIK
Slavko VINCIC : Tomaz KLANCNIK, Andraz KOVACIC
Alejandro HERNANDEZ : Diego SANCHEZ, Jose Enrique NARANJO PEREZ
CONMEBOL
Andres ROJAS : Alexander GUZMAN*
Cristian GARAY : Jose RETAMAL, Miguel ROCHA
Dario HERRERA : Cristian NAVARRO*
Facundo TELLO : Juan Pablo BELATTI, Gabriel CHADE
Gustavo TEJERA : Carlos BARREIRO, Nicolas TARAN
Jesus VALENZUELA : Jorge URREGO, Tulio MORENO
Juan Gabriel BENITEZ : Eduardo CARDOZO, Milciades SALDIVAR
Kevin ORTEGA : Michael ORUE*
Raphael CLAUS : Danilo MANIS, Rodrigo FIGUEIREDO
Ramon ABBATI : Rafael ALVES*
Wilton SAMPAIO : Bruno BOSCHILIA, Bruno PIRES
Yael FALCON PEREZ : Maximiliano DEL YESSO, Facundo RODRIGUEZ
CONCACAF
Cesar RAMOS : Alberto MORIN, Marco BISGUERRA
Drew FISCHER : Micheal BARWEGEN, Lyes ARFA
Ismail ELFATH : Kyle ATKINS, Corey PARKER
Ivan BARTON : David MORAN, Antonio PUPIRO
Juan CALDERON : Juan Carlos MORA*
Katia GARCIA : Sandra RAMIREZ*
Oshane NATION : Caleb WALES*
Hector Said MARTINEZ : Walter LOPEZ, Christian RAMIREZ
Tori PENSO : Brooke MAYO, Kathryn NESBITT
CAF
Amin MOHAMED : Mahmoud ABOUELREGAL, Ahmed HOSSAM TAHA
Dahane BEIDA : Jerson SANTOS*
Jalal JAYED : Mostafa AKARKAD, Zakaria BRINSI
Mahmood Ali Mahmood ISMAIL : Elvis NOUPUE*
Mustapha GHORBAL : Mokrane GOURARI, Abbes Akram ZERHOUNI
Pierre ATCHO : Amos ABEIGNE, Boris DITSOGA
Abongile TOM : Zakhele SIWELA*
AFC
Abdulrahman AL JASSIM : Taleb AL MARRI, Saoud AL MAQALEH
Khalid AL TURAIS : Mohammed AL ABAKRY*
Yusuke ARAKI : Jun MIHARA*
Alireza FAGHANI : George LAKRINDIS, James LINDSAY
Adham MAKHADMEH : Ahmad AL ROALLE, Mohammad AL KALAF
Ning MA : Fei ZHOU*
Omar AL ALI : Mohamed AL HAMMADI*
OFC
Campbell-Kirk KAWANA-WAUGH : Isaac TREVIS*
correction
Siebert deserved it,but it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteLast WC he had Uruguay incident and also that year eas Atletico-City match.
After that,good recovery but still it wasn't enough.
Imo,way better performances than his compatriot Zwayer who had to go and deservedly so based on last season and the fact he handled big european Final.
Big congratulations to our talented referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan from Somalia.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually 2 Spanish assistant in the official list : https://digitalhub.fifa.com/asset/7879a8c6-c228-4848-a8de-7dc69b37b594/Final-List-of-Match-Officials-FWC-2026.pdf
ReplyDeleteOh so hernandez isnt a reserve referee
DeleteHe was, but something happened in that three-hour interval between the list being sent to the referees and its official publication on the FIFA website.
DeletePerhaps I missed this, but it seems that there will be no Stephanie Frappart? Of course, Penso is in for female represention but was expecting Frappart to be here as well.
ReplyDeleteThe math is simple.
ReplyDeleteWe have 52 referees, which means 36 main referees plus 16 reserves.
There are 88 assistant referees: 72 active and 16 reserves.
Since we have 16 stadiums, the reserve referees can be based in one stadium for the entire tournament to avoid unnecessary travel.
There are 72 group stage matches, which means each referee will handle 2 matches.
A good plan by FIFA.
I highly doubt you'll see each reserve duo assigned to one stadium. Obviously, I could be wrong. But I think it's much more likely they'll be divided in regional groups with a 5-5-6 or 4-6-6 split (western region has fewer venues). And then they'd work within those regions. It makes very little sense to stick a reserve and his/her assistant at one hotel in a host city and have them sit there for 20 days. That's not how tournament officiating works.
DeleteAgree with @usaref, i think we can say the same for main referees and their assistant, probably split in groups for every region and country, will make it easier for them. May be wrong but don't think therre will be a central point where everyone are.
DeleteThey did this in Russia, as it is a very large country, like now.
DeleteIf you look at the schedule, some stadiums have matches with only 2–3 days between them. I think this makes the organization easier.
yes that's true more time to travel maybe they will do it but for the recovery and for them to be more confortable that will be better to spilt them but we'll see what FIFA decide.
DeleteIndeed it is numerically very pleasing. :)
DeleteI think, the reserve referees should also be considered as real reserves, not only as fourth officials. So in case of an injury or a very bad performance by a main referee, a reserve referee could get a game with an assistant from another team.
So while the 2 games for everyone strategy seems obvious, reality might very well deviate from that.
About the regions. Is it known, that the referees will be split into the three regions, which were used for the group distributions? Or are that only assumptions for now?
Bad luck for Siebert and Peljto.
ReplyDeleteIs this the first time in the "modern era" that a referee has been selected for a World Cup without having officiated any previous FIFA tournaments?
ReplyDeleteTo start, I want to apologize if I come across as too harsh in my comments about the list of UEFA referees who will be at the World Cup this year.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I hope this is Rosetti’s last list in the committee and that it’s time for changes in that aspect. What I don’t like seeing, and what I’m seeing again, is one of the worst possible things. How long are passports going to play the main role? The moment it was clearly decided that Sanchez Martinez wasn’t ready for the World Cup, Hernandez was suddenly added to the seminar list. It’s obvious there has to be a spot for a Spanish referee, which is disappointing. I don’t think any of them should be in this competition right now.
Secondly, why was it necessary to humiliate Irfan Peljto like this? This is really disappointing. He’s the only referee, along with Sanchez Martinez in the end, who isn’t on the list despite going through all those “amazing” seminars and training programs. Last season he was definitely among the top 10 referees in Europe and deservedly officiated the UECL final. This season, despite some obvious mistakes, he’s just removed? Don’t tell me other referees didn’t have similar performances. Scharer is on the list without a FIFA tournament and coming off an injury, Pinheiro with his incredible “reputation” in the committee is there, Hernandez was suddenly added, and on top of all that Peljto is out? I’m sure that even beyond the Bosnian referee, there are better options not included here compared to some names on the list, and I’m not talking about the 7 or 8 obvious ones.
Maybe I’m being subjective because I tend to prefer referees from “smaller” countries who truly deserve huge respect, but this list, just like some previous appointments, shows things I don’t want to see and leaves me disappointed.
Everyone has their own opinion, and I ask for no negative comments on this, but I really don’t like how all of this looks.
I am not sure whether Roberto Rosetti is actually responsible for the UEFA nominations or rather Pierluigi Collina himself. For example, when I think about the fact that Daniel Siebert was recently rewarded for his positive performance curve, Roberto Rosetti could also have conducted a change for Germany.
DeleteSo uefa have fourtheen referees and one reserve referee who is sando schärer
ReplyDeleteCould somebody please compile a list also of the referees who unfortunately did not “make the cut” from the preselection lists?
ReplyDeleteI’m working on that (!)
DeleteI hope finish it as soon as possible.
I can confirm that an original version of the official release was without José Enrique Naranjo, added later, changing from 87 to 88 assistant referees. It's incredible: they were in doubt about Hernandez Hernandez if main referee or not until the very end, they even published a first version with him as reserve. This story about Spanish referees at WC 2026 will be remembered forever.
ReplyDeleteAnd clearly, they waited until today for watching Sanchez Martinez in his game yesterday (maybe a very last chance, given how they work, but indeed fully failed by the Murcian referee).