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 ABATTI
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
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteSource? 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.
DeleteProbably more an arm
DeleteRound th shoulder to say uefa still trust you
Referees 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)
DeleteI believe it is because his AR2 from Euro 2024 Dan Cook had an injury and during that injury he stared working with Mainwaring
DeleteYeah Cook missed a lot of last season. Seems slightly harsh on him though not to return to Oliver's team since he hasn't been to a WC (Bennett was AR2 in 2022)
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.
ReplyDeleteSiebert is so inconsistent ,he doesn't deserve to go to the World Cup.
DeleteAnd Felix Zwayer is synonym for for the consistency...
DeleteIs 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.
DeleteI’ll be sarcastic here, but maybe Irfan Peljto got “punished” because Bosnia dared to knock Italy out of the World Cup—clearly a crime that cannot go unpunished 😄
Delete@Ugur: In this case, however, one could also have punished the referee of the relevant playoff game, which, however, was not done. ;-)
Delete@Peter Turpin is too serious and reputable a referee to “step away” from the World Cup, considering he is one of the candidates for the final itself. But if it had been a referee with a lesser reputation, nothing would have surprised me. :)
Delete@Peter
DeleteI actually have a ‘scientific’ example to back this up: Cüneyt Çakır makes a questionable call in the Austria–Slovenia match, Slovenia miss out on the tournament… and from that very whistle, it’s almost as if his own career starts going downhill. Perhaps not entirely a coincidence, considering Aleksander Čeferin — Slovenia’s most powerful man in football — might have had a say in how things unfolded.
@Ugur: Yes, I (as an Austrian) remember this game very well and that Cüneyt Cakir fell significantly out of favor from that point on.
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).
So, who is the 16th reserve referee then instead?
DeleteIf I’m missing someone, please let me know (!)
ReplyDeleteReferees who didn’t make the cut from the last seminars.
AFC
Ahmed Al-Kaf (OMA)
Salman Falahi (QAT)
CAF
Mahmood Ismail (SDN)
Issa Sy (SEN)
Ndala Ngambo (COD)
CONCACAF
Mario Escobar (GUA)
Joseph Dickerson (USA) *Pre-selected as main referee but he will be as VAR*
CONMEBOL
Andrés Matonte (URU)
OFC
Ben Aukwai (SOL)
UEFA
Jose Sanchez (ESP)
Irfan Peljto (BIH)
-We have 2 referees with previous WC experience (Escobar and Matonte)
“The referees will be based in Miami, where they will gather for a ten-day preparation seminar beginning on May 31. Following the seminar, the VAR referees will travel to Dallas, while the assistant referees will remain in Miami.” - ArbitroInternacional
My opinion is that Ndala Ngambo lost his spot after the AFCON final as he was one of the top top referees in Africa
DeleteThe CL final is on May 30 while the preparation seminar starts on May 31. How will they manage that?
Delete@Nerazzuri: absolutely agree.
Delete@Swiss_reffan: maybe an extraordinary case? With the referee appointed joining them on June 1st/2nd?
Did issa sy go to the last world cup or is that my imagination
DeleteI think you're confusing him with another Senegalese referee: Maguette N'Diaye, who was support in 2022 :)
DeleteBtw, anyone knows what happened with him? After Qatar he completely disappeared from the radar.
@Neil, no. He was last year's Club World Cup though.
Delete@Swiss_reffan: In past World Cup years, it sometimes happened that the finals were assigned to referees who weren't nominated for the tournament. However, you can't simply assign a Champions League final to the "next best" referee. Daniel Siebert would probably be the most/only suitable one if Bayern Munich were to be eliminated early. More realistically, though, a World Cup referee would likely arrive later.
DeleteIt's utterly abysmal to include Hdz Hdz as main referee...
ReplyDeleteFIFA World Cup 2026 – Match Officials by Confederation
ReplyDelete11 June – 19 July 2026
UEFA – 14 referees, 1 reserve, 11 VAR officials
Referees (14)
Anthony TAYLOR (ENG) – Gary BESWICK, Adam NUNN
Michael OLIVER (ENG) – Stuart BURT, James MAINWARING
Clement TURPIN (FRA) – Nicolas DANOS, Benjamin PAGES
Francois LETEXIER (FRA) – Cyril MUGNIER, Mehdi RAHMOUNI
Danny MAKKELIE (NED) – Hessel STEEGSTRA, Jan DE VRIES
Espen ESKAS (NOR) – Jan Erik ENGAN, Isaak BASHEVKIN
Felix ZWAYER (GER) – Robert KEMPTER, Christian DIETZ
Glenn NYBERG (SWE) – Mahbod BEIGI, Andreas SODERKVIST
Istvan KOVACS (ROU) – Mihai MARICA, Ferencz TUNYOGI
Joao PINHEIRO (POR) – Bruno JESUS, Luciano MAIA
Maurizio MARIANI (ITA) – Daniele BINDONI, Alberto TEGONI
Szymon MARCINIAK (POL) – Tomasz LISTKIEWICZ, Adam KUPSIK
Slavko VINCIC (SVN) – Tomaz KLANCNIK, Andraz KOVACIC
Alejandro HERNANDEZ (ESP) – Diego SANCHEZ, Jose Enrique NARANJO PEREZ
Reserve Referee (1)
Sandro SCHAERER (SUI) – Stephane DE ALMEIDA
VAR Officials (11)
Ivan BEBEK (CRO), Jerome BRISARD (FRA), Bastian DANKERT (GER), Carlos DEL CERRO GRANDE (ESP), Marco DI BELLO (ITA), Rob DIEPERINK (NED), Jarred GILLETT (ENG), Dennis HIGLER (NED), Tomasz KWIATKOWSKI (POL), Fedayi SAN (SUI), Bram VAN DRIESSCHE (BEL)
---
CONMEBOL – 8 referees, 4 reserves, 7 VAR officials
Referees (8)
Facundo TELLO (ARG) – Juan Pablo BELATTI, Gabriel CHADE
Yael FALCON PEREZ (ARG) – Maximiliano DEL YESSO, Facundo RODRIGUEZ
Raphael CLAUS (BRA) – Danilo MANIS, Rodrigo FIGUEIREDO
Wilton SAMPAIO (BRA) – Bruno BOSCHILIA, Bruno PIRES
Cristian GARAY (CHI) – Jose RETAMAL, Miguel ROCHA
Juan Gabriel BENITEZ (PAR) – Eduardo CARDOZO, Milciades SALDIVAR
Gustavo TEJERA (URU) – Carlos BARREIRO, Nicolas TARAN
Jesus VALENZUELA (VEN) – Jorge URREGO, Tulio MORENO
Reserve Referees (4)
Andres ROJAS (COL) – Alexander GUZMAN
Dario HERRERA (ARG) – Cristian NAVARRO
Kevin ORTEGA (PER) – Michael ORUE
Ramon ABATTI (BRA) – Rafael ALVES
VAR Officials (7)
Nicolas GALLO (COL), Antonio GARCIA (URU), Leodan GONZALEZ (URU), Juan LARA (CHI), Hernan MASTRANGELO (ARG), Juan SOTO (VEN), Rodolpho TOSKI (BRA)
---
CONCACAF – 7 referees, 2 reserves, 5 VAR officials
Referees (7)
Ivan BARTON (SLV) – David MORAN, Antonio PUPIRO
Ismail ELFATH (USA) – Kyle ATKINS, Corey PARKER
Drew FISCHER (CAN) – Micheal BARWEGEN, Lyes ARFA
Oshane NATION (JAM) – Caleb WALES
Tori PENSO (USA) – Brooke MAYO, Kathryn NESBITT
Cesar RAMOS (MEX) – Alberto MORIN, Marco BISGUERRA
Hector Said MARTINEZ (HON) – Walter LOPEZ, Christian RAMIREZ
Reserve Referees (2)
Juan CALDERON (CRC) – Juan Carlos MORA
Katia GARCIA (MEX) – Sandra RAMIREZ
VAR Officials (5)
Joe DICKERSON (USA), Tatiana GUZMAN (NCA), Erick MIRANDA (MEX), Guillermo PACHECO (MEX), Armando VILLARREAL (USA)
---
CAF – 4 referees, 3 reserves, 2 VAR officials
Referees (4)
Amin MOHAMED (EGY) – Mahmoud ABOUELREGAL, Ahmed HOSSAM TAHA
Jalal JAYED (MAR) – Mostafa AKARKAD, Zakaria BRINSI
Mustapha GHORBAL (ALG) – Mokrane GOURARI, Abbes Akram ZERHOUNI
Pierre ATCHO (GAB) – Amos ABEIGNE, Boris DITSOGA
Reserve Referees (3)
Dahane BEIDA (MTN) – Jerson SANTOS
Abongile TOM (RSA) – Zakhele SIWELA
Mahmood Ali ISMAIL (SDN) – Elvis NOUPUE
VAR Officials (2)
Mahmoud ASHOUR (EGY), Hamza EL FARIQ (MAR)
---
AFC – 4 referees, 4 reserves, 5 VAR officials
Referees (4)
Abdulrahman AL JASSIM (QAT) – Taleb AL MARRI, Saoud AL MAQALEH
Alireza FAGHANI (AUS) – George LAKRINDIS, James LINDSAY
Adham MAKHADMEH (JOR) – Ahmad AL ROALLE, Mohammad AL KALAF
Ilgiz TANTASHEV (UZB) – Timur GAYNULLIN, Andrey TSAPENKO
Reserve Referees (4)
Khalid AL TURAIS (KSA) – Mohammed AL ABAKRY
Yusuke ARAKI (JPN) – Jun MIHARA
Ning MA (CHN) – Fei ZHOU
Omar AL ALI (UAE) – Mohamed AL HAMMADI
VAR Officials (5)
Khamis AL-MARRI (QAT), Abdullah ALSHEHRI (KSA), Shaun EVANS (AUS), Fu MING (CHN), Mohammed OBAID KHADIM (UAE)
---
OFC – 0 referees, 1 reserve, 0 VAR officials
Reserve Referee (1)
Campbell-Kirk KAWANA-WAUGH (NZL) – Isaac TREVIS
---
Total: 37 referees, 15 reserves, 30 VAR officials
52 referees appointed (37 + 15) – 88 assistant referees – 30 VAR officials
Why is Nation not a reserve, if he only has one assistant?
DeleteAnd Ismail is not on the list (but Artan is instead).
About VAR selection:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the number of VARs appears rather small. At WC22, there were 24 VARs, so they didn't fully scale up.
I assume, they are all working from the same location (Dallas?), so no travel needed, and therefore still doable with that group size.
Also notable, that everyone on the list seems to be possible as main VAR (at least for UEFA, I have less knowledger for the others).
For UEFA, all the questionable seminar participants without CL games in this season have been removed.
With the seminar list, some of the omissions were already clear, but one should mention again, that it is a bit strange, that Dingert, van Boekel and Martins are missing. The German is currently the standard VAR for Vincic, the Dutch equally leads the CL ranking with 11 games this season and the Portuguese could have been expected for Pinheiro (and as language partner for the Brazilians or the Hispanics).
Do you know if the still need an assistant referee as AVAR 2 or with SAOT only an operator is needed, that could be something important for assistant.
DeleteReferees (among those with full trios) who will make their WC debut:
ReplyDeleteTantashev, Makhadmeh, Beida, Jayed, Omar, Atcho, Penso, Fischer, Martínez (was support in 2022), Abatti, Falcón, Garay, Tejera, Benítez, Letexier, Mariani, Zwayer, Hernández Hernández, Kovács (was support in 2022), Nyberg, Eskas & Pinheiro.
Referees who will be on their 2nd WC: Al-Jassim, Ghorbal, Elfath, Barton, Sampaio, Tello, Valenzuela, Oliver, Taylor, Makkelie & Vincic
Referees who will be on their 3rd WC: Faghani, Ramos, Turpin & Marciniak
Wasn’t Faghani the FO during Brazil-Croacia in 2014?
DeleteFaghani was a FO in 2014, yes. It's his 4th WC de iure, but the third as a field ref.
DeleteThe Spanish AR listed in the "leaked list" is the AR2 for Hernandez (AR1 is usually reserve AR) so maybe they left off Enrique by mistake. Either way incredible situation in the last few weeks with Hernandez joining the seminar late then being selected ahead of Sanchez.
ReplyDeleteMore infos there :
ReplyDeletehttps://inside.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/media-releases/fifa-world-cup-2026-match-referees-appointed
Trying to sell the 6 female officials as a success in their development is quite special...
DeleteIn 2022, we also had 6 officials (of a smaller total). This year, we will even have one support referee less.
So the only real development is, that we have now a female VAR in the squad.
And maybe, that Penso has a realistic chance for more than one game (and KO stage).
But not even another female AR and no female official outside CONCACAF isn't really progress in this area.
Agree, and for me the most important thing is nat there is not a single sign of Frappart here which means the incapacity for FIFA to maintain her level
Delete@Philipp: To be honest, Stéphanie Frappart was already being used in 2022 more to make a (gender) political statement. The Germany-Costa Rica match was certainly not the first choice for a European referee. Presumably, the hope was for a meaningless (ideally continentally neutral) encounter on the final day of the group stage. In reality, this match turned out to be anything but irrelevant; it was more of a lesser of two evils with a clear favorite.
DeleteCongratulations to all officials. All appoitments fully deserved. Stays regret becouse of Peljto,but he is 41, he came into best officiating years and his goals should be: most important EURO 2028 where he have really good chsnces to go,2029 CWC, AND 2030 FIFA WORLD CUP, where he will have 45 and good chances to gain something big. Hope he will accomplish that!
ReplyDeleteCould Beida be a support referee?
ReplyDeleteI don't know who are his ARs. One of them is Jerson dos Santos the Angolan. Then there's Elvis Noupue from Cameroon who is either Beida's 2nd assistant or Artan's pair AR.
Either Beida is support referee, or Artan is assistant-less.
Mmmm you’re right…I bet on the second option.
DeleteBeida as support would be nuts.
quite remarkable that Netherlands is the only country together with hosts USA and Mexico who have 2 VAR referees, not even Italia, England, Germany or France has 2 VARs, the Dutch must be highly respected by Collina and co.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find it incredible that Pinheiro (and perhaps even hernandez if the rumours of a second AR are true) can make the main list whilst Scharer is only a reserve. I think Scharer is a superb referee who should be on the main list if Pinheiro can make the main one too
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting that FIFA publishes all the names in list form rather than as trios/duos. I wouldn't be surprised if, for example, Katia Garcia were to officiate a match with an assistant from Cesar Ramos or Tori Penso, should the group standings allow it. The OFC representative could also potentially be assigned a match if a group is decided early. However, with the current format, where even third-placed teams can qualify for the round of 32, this possibility decreases: a match between third and fourth place would probably be too high-stakes. A parallel match between first and second place (if both are guaranteed to advance) might be "too much." Even in a meaningless match between first and fourth place, a referee with little tournament experience would likely not be the first choice.
ReplyDeleteBut there still might appear other reasons to give a reserve referee a game, especially injuries before or during the tournament. And then it's easier to sell, if the replacement referee was on the list the whole time and doesn't look like second choice.
DeleteAlso it can appease mainstream media in countries (e.g. Colombia or Japan), who would lack a referee, if the reserve referees weren't counted in...
The same goes for Switzerland in case of Schärer. All Swiss medias posted that Schärer will participate at the WC while none of them realised that he probably won‘t officiate a single game due to being a reserve referee.
DeleteNow that we have the candidates, who will referee the World Cup opening match?
ReplyDeleteMy early prediction would be:
DeleteMEXRSA- Sampaio
CANBIH- Faghani
USAPAR- Makkelie
Wow Sampaio for the opener! I predict either Elfath or Turpin for the final.
DeleteFrom AFC, Faghani should be the only option. If there is a reasoning not to give it again to UEFA or CONMEBOL (or to give something to AFC early on), it could be his chance. Otherwise, there are surely better options.
DeleteFor CONMEBOL, Mikael's 100percenters should be the leading options. And Sampaio probably has the edge over Tello and Valenzuela to avoid the Spanish language connection with Mexico (shouldn't matter IMO, but could be a factor). Others not impossible though.
For UEFA, all the referees with previous WC games seem possible, maybe excluding Turpin for failing in the EURO opener. Furthermore there exist also arguments for Letexier and Nyberg. But the most obvious option would be Marciniak.
Diego's idea to splitting the three opening games between the confederations is an appealing idea.
Theoretically, Alireza Faghani, with his record four World Cup appearances (his third as head referee), could be a candidate, especially since he's more "assignable" in Mexico and Canada than in the USA. I just don't know if FIFA really wants to make such a "political statement" by putting him in the spotlight like this.
DeleteI have this idea of giving CONMEBOL the opening just because UEFA had the last one (Orsato), but this can be absolutely meaningless :)
DeleteTurpin, Oliver, Vincic, Makkelie and even Marciniak can easily officiate the opening, I’m completely sure about that.
Indeed, nice to know the list of support officials immediately, unlike in 2022, but logical given the travel distances. Congratulations to all officials. Hard work pays off.
ReplyDeleteRather "short" comment for now, maybe I will write more later on next days: at UEFA level we have the core group of well-known names. Having mentioned the very particular Spanish management, which in my opinion will certainly go "viral" in refereeing history in terms of World Cup selection process, we can say that there is great confidence in the Swiss referee Sandro Schaerer, who will go to the World Cup as a reserve, but as we know, everything can happen. I would already like to point out that this list, with only one assistant for some referees, means very little, because we have seen how flexible FIFA has been in the past, and therefore an appointment even for those who are initially reserves is possible. For this reason, it is clear that we must also consider possible injuries, which of course we don't wish to anyone.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there is strong confidence in the Swiss referee, who would have gone to the World Cup and would have been a starting referee, and would have been a name, not exactly top-tier, but certainly one that would have been relied very much. At the same time, it is unfortunate for Pelito, who in the end unfortunately had one of his worst recent seasons, the worst for sure, but if we look at the overall picture, he has been treated very, very harshly compared to others. Now, if we think that Sánchez Martínez could have gone to the World Cup, we really have to throw up our hands; in fact, I believe he was not selected also for this reason, otherwise the comparison with the Bosnian referee would have been unacceptable.
However, it must also be said that a Spanish nationality is very different from a Bosnian one, I regret to say it, but that is the reality. In any case, it has been clear that even with Spanish nationality, the FIFA Referees Committee has been in considerable difficulty with the current case and in the end the referee from Canary Islands is the winner. Incredible achievement for him! Joined as very last the WC preselection and he was confirmed among the names. To be written in the history of international refereeing forever.
And to add, I think Schaerer was called because he couldn't demonstrate his abilities due to injury, so the argument with Peljto is valid only for the Spanish who was left home, indeed, he was always available as well and not injured. I can agree with this point of view, that means they have, as said, a very strong trust in Schaerer.
But maybe it will be unfair for the other referees, if we will officiate a game as main referee. We will see.
Shortly on the other confederations, I'm not so much updated, but clear that in Africa, AFCON changed everything and there was a shock after that. The referee from the final out, Issa Sy after his card "show" out as well (I think Busacca even fainted, while watching that video).
About CONMEBOL, I expected Abatti after a big focus on him, but apart from Sampaio and his experience, they didn't want to renounce to Claus. Abatti will have his time in future, but I liked him very much as referee.
8 years later, we will have a refereeing team again in WC. Great day for my country :)
ReplyDeleteWhere are you from?
DeleteThey forgot to inform Infantino about the late inclusion of the Spanish assistant, he says there are only 87 assistants.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.instagram.com/p/DW7Ff_eCItB/?igsh=cjkzM2o5eXpweG1s
I feel sorry for Sánchez Martínez. He narrowly missed out on the Euros and now he's been left out of the World Cup at the last minute, after having participated in the entire selection process. He refereed a semifinal at the 2023 U-20 World Cup and was injured in his second match at the 2025 tournament. Very bad luck. In La Liga, I think he has proven to be a better referee than Hernández Hernández, and internationally as well.
ReplyDeleteHernández Hernández hasn't participated in any FIFA tournaments, and he has refereed very few Champions League matches. He really hasn't proven anything; I think his selection is very unfair.
First of all, congratulations to all the referees, including those selected and those not, on their accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteMy main impression is that I'm surprised they kept the list of "main referees" so short (36 instead of the planned 39), increasing by only 25% from 2022 despite the tournament gaining 50% more teams. This shows the concentrated, non-spread-out nature of FIFA's trust.
The Reserves list, by contrast, drastically expanded (from 7, or 8 if you count Frappart, in 2022, to 16(!) in 2026). Of course, the geographic footprint of this tournament must be considered a crucial distinction from the previous edition. One of two outcomes seems probable: either some reserve referees will actually have whistles, or the 16 reserves will be exclusively assigned to the 16 host cities.
The log jam in CONCACAF seems to have been particularly brutal. I am surprised they stuck to their limit of six and left out Calderon, who should have been ahead of Martinez and some of the AFC and, surprisingly, CONMEBOL appointees. Martinez does actually deserve his appointment, hence showing the difficulty presented by the the 6-referee quota, in which 4 spots were all-but-guaranteed. Both of these Central Americans should have been in the final List.
By contrast, FIFA drastically reduced their reported quota for AFC, CAF, and OFC referees:
- AFC was planned to bring 6 referees and 2 reserves: They instead bring 4+4(!!!)
- CAF was planned to bring 6+2; instead, 5+2
- OFC was planed to bring 1+1; instead, 0+1
Calling particular attention to AFC, the decision to reduce the quota from 6 referees to 4 was, begrudgingly, a quite appropriate one. Finding 6 World-Cup-quality referees from their list would have been very difficult; even the list of four is underwhelming. Though one must spare a thought for Ma Ning, who will have attended the 2022 WC, 2025 CWC, and 2026 WC exclusively as a fourth official.
In conclusion, I am very excited for the group stage. Given the quantity of important matches, and the size and composition of the referee pool, FIFA has a problem they can solve in many different ways. For example:
A) Reserve referees could wind up with whistles.
B) Several main referees could be assigned three matches within the group stage.
C) Some referees could be asked to step up work games that are perhaps beyond their regular capabilities.
Looking back at 2022, we can observe two things.
ReplyDelete1. Change of distribution between confederations (only counting refs with games / expected to get games)
AFC: 4 (14%) -> 4 (11%)
CAF: 4 (14%) -> 4 (11%)
CONCACAF: 4 (14%) -> 6 (17%)
CONMEBOL: 6 (21%) -> 8 (22%)
OFC: 1 (3%) -> 0 (0%)
UEFA: 10 (34%) -> 14 (39%)
So UEFA and CONCACAF won shares, while AFC, CAF and OFC lost.
2. In 2022, seven (24%) referees only got one game in the tournament.
So IMO it is not so clear that FIFA really plans on only using 36 referees this summer. There could be more flexibility than the number suggests and many of us expect. If FIFA e.g. feels they need to give one game to an East Asian referee, they probably wouldn't hesitate to do it.
Since there's been so much talk about "surprises" today: What surprised me most was that OFC isn't providing a referee. While it's an understandable decision given their backgrounds, one might have expected a guaranteed spot for them, considering the increased number of participants, matches, and referees. On the other hand, with this World Cup format, there are perhaps no meaningless games, so those who are selected must actually enjoy a certain level of trust. This might be a disadvantage for these referees, as the third-placed team versus fourth-placed team is also of crucial importance in this World Cup.
DeleteFirst norwegian referee in WC since 2002. Moen FO in 2014.
ReplyDelete2026 WC Venues
ReplyDeleteGroup stage
Mexico City, Monterrey: 3 matches
Guadalajara, Seattle, Kansas City, Miami: 4 matches
Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York: 5 matches
Round of 32
Los Angeles, Dallas: 2 matches
All other venues except Guadalajara and Philadelphia: 1 match
Therefore, assuming there are 36 on-field referees and 16 reserve referees, with 16 referees stationed at 1 stadium each and serving as the fourth official in the corresponding group-stage matches (and possibly also in the Round of 32), this kind of appointment logic is indeed reasonable.
However, with 72 GS matches and 36 referees, isn’t this somewhat pushed to the limit? If a referee’s first match is a disaster, will he/she still officiate the second match? Moreover, at the previous World Cup, with 48 GS matches, a total of 29 referees received match appointments, not 24. So after expanding to 72 GS matches, having only 36 on-field referees, and AFC and CAF still having only 4 referees each (or maybe 5 for CAF), and OFC got 0, is clearly not reasonable.
Let's continue the analysis based on this assumption. There are many more unreasonable points:
Jose Sanchez being excluded at the last moment due to poor performance (after PSG vs Liverpool) is reasonable. However, Spain must have 1 referee, and it must be an on-field referee, not a reserve. This is why Hernandez was temporarily added before the final seminar, to prevent the scenario of Sanchez failing. In the “non-public” World Cup list, there was originally only 1 Spanish assistant referee, which was later increased to 2, further ensuring that Hernandez would definitely get matches. This should be the first time in history that a referee was selected for the World Cup and could officiate matches without going through any FIFA match assessments. If Sanchez and Hernandez were not Spanish, neither of them would enter the World Cup list or officiate matches.
Schaerer’s selection clearly suggests he will most likely be a reserve referee, but considering his long injury absence, his opportunity this time must also have benefited from Swiss nationality (Busacca).
The strangest thing is that AFC and CAF each have only 4 full referee teams.
Considering the relationship between FIFA and Qatar, it was expected that 1 Qatari referee would officiate; the only question was whether it would be Jassim or Falahi. Since FIFA is still willing to trust Jassim, even after his 'great' performance at 2022 WC third-place match and 2025 Arab Cup, there is nothing more to say. All the opportunities he got just because he's from Qatar, and with a young age.
As for Makhadmeh, FIFA gave him another chance after his first Arab Cup match (clear RC missed after OFR) and even appointed him to a quarter-final, which can only mean FIFA truly values some potential in him (at least I did not see it).
Based on Arab Cup performances:
DeleteJassim only appeared in the 3rd round, performed poorly, then received the Intercontinental Cup appointment, which further secured his World Cup place. This path is clearly planned even before the Arab Cup.
Makhadmeh missed a red card even after OFR in his first match, yet still received a second GS match and a quarter-final, securing his World Cup place. Clearly, the missed RC has no negative impact at all.
Elfath had long-term injuries and only returned before the Arab Cup, was immediately selected for the Arab Cup and appointed to the Intercontinental Cup final, which seems to be a warm-up tournament before the 2026 WC. He would go to the WC regardless his performance (just like in 2022, when he still officiated the second group match and a Round of 16 match despite a poor first group match, and remains a candidate for the 2026 WC Final).
Paraguay’s Benitez ruined an Arab Cup group match but still officiated the semi-final, securing a World Cup place with a full referee team.
As for Ma Ning, he performed very well at the Arab Cup, with only 1 OFR overturn, but did not receive knockout referee appointments and only served as 4O in the semi-final and final.
All this shows that referees such as Jassim, Makhadmeh, Elfath, and Benitez have a higher tolerance for mistakes. After making errors, they easily receive second chances. Ma Ning does not. Despite possibly better performances, at the World Cup he can only rank behind Jassim and Makhadmeh; Ortega is the same, ranking behind Benitez and becoming a reserve referee, AGAIN. I have nothing to say about this.
This is simply an unfair world. For refs like Hernandez, all he needs is to stay down for most of the time, do not make huge mistakes, perform well in ONE crucial Champions League fixture, and wait for Sanchez to be excluded. For refs like Jassim, Makhademeh, Elfath, Benitez, all they need are a reasonable tournament (Arab Cup), to act as 'warm up' before WC.
This will be the last World Cup for 47-year-old Ma Ning, yet he will likely be a fourth official for 2 consecutive World Cups. That’s it.
I seriously can't believe so many of you seem certain that a reserve will go to one stadium and just sit there.
DeleteA) That's not tournament football. What, on earth, would be the point for the official in question? To just sit in an adjacent hotel for 20 days, twiddle your thumbs, and not engage at all with the other officials or FIFA instructors/assessors? It makes no sense.
B) You all seem do ignore or dismiss how easy it is to get to and from, say, New York and Philadelphia. Or New York and Boston. Or Atlanta and Dallas and anywhere. Travel is very, very easy for the vast majority of these connections.
C) What happens when a fourth who is assigned to a stadium... well, screws up? Blows a decision or inserts himself to make an affirmative (bad) one? Helps to send off a coach in controversial terms? Or even has to take over the whistle. The attitude here that a reserve can just sit at a stadium and do almost nothing wrong (or right) reeks of what I think is an increasing worldwide attitude that fourths are irrelevant. They aren't. And shouldn't be. Things will happen in this tournament and the idea that you would just say "go to X and do Y games and then go home" reflects a world where nothing would happen in between.
No referee is getting sent to one single stadium to do all the fourth officials at that stadium in a World Cup. I cannot believe that idea has taken hold on this blog.
@Yifei: I don't know the reasons behind the nominations, so I can't comment on specific cases. What I do notice, however, is that only international performances are considered here. I can't imagine FIFA using just a handful of such appearances as a basis for their decisions. I rather assume that domestic performances are analyzed, too. Presumably, the candidates are also told what areas they still need to work on. For example, let's say one of them speaks insufficient English and four years later there's still no significant improvement. Factors like that could also be taken into account.
Delete@usaref: Well, the idea obviously comes from the Club World Cup, where the support referees seemed basically to stay at one venue. E.g., Kawana, Ma and Tejera had exactly six games in the same stadium.
DeleteI know, some parameters are different this summer, but the idea itself is very explainable.
The big shock for me is Faghani's AR's from Club World Cup Final (Shchetinin and Beecham) just last year have been dropped and replaced with Lindsay and Lakrindis. I'm not in the know enough to know why.
ReplyDeleteA couple of doubts: Beida reserve or not ? Claus or Abatti for second referee from Brazil ?
ReplyDeleteClaus must be the reserve. He only has one AR (Rodrigo Figueiredo) while Abatti has both (Danilo Manis & Rafael Alves)
DeleteThe situation for Brazil is indeed unclear, because they don’t really have fix assistants this year.
DeleteDoes someone actually know the planned trios?
And yes, in CAF not clear, whether Beida actually is only reserve as the ARs indicate.
Beida-Santos-Noupue is a crew. They deleted Yiembe from the Beida trio without an apparent reason (I just looked thru his AFCON appmnts and didn't recall any mistakes). Noupue was helped by the former Cameroonian linesman Menkouande being in the CAF referees committee; due to them working in mixed teams, more-or-less every WC since 2006 has been quite a big mess for which African assistants eventually are chosen in each trio. I guess they deemed it as too insensitive to relegate Yiembe into being reserve linesman, so Artan will be like Tessema in 2018, with no fixed assistant (Ethiopian worked with Kalugin (rus), Mora (crc) and then twice Al-Mahri (uae) back then).
DeleteThanks, Mikael.
DeleteSo do you expect 5 CAF referees? And only Artan and Tom as reserves?
First of all Congratulations to all Referees appointed; It's a wonderful achievement in their carrier.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest surprise to me is the absence of Sanchez Martinez: after dropping off Gil Manzano, he was the only candidate from Spain and I really do not understand what happened in the recent time to exclude him even as reserve in favor of Hz Hz. Really wired and honestly speaking I don't see him weaker than some other colleagues picked up from AFC or CAF.
Secondly I was expecting Escobar (form Guatemala) and Peljto as reserve as well Herrera as main referee in spite of Falcon Perez as 2nd Argentinian; maybe some one in this blog form Center of south America can explain me these choice.
The global number of official is very high but it's perfectly fitting the big number of matches and the time to travel form one location to another; fully expected to have 36 main REF due to the fact that there will be 72 group stage matches; it makes sense to foresee two matches per REF.
Going into confederation details it seems that AFC is not getting a good trust being overpassed by CAF as number of main REF, but 5 Vs. 4 are peanuts. Respect to the perspective list AL KAF, FALAHI, NDALA AND SY have been excluded and for sue Ndala is paying the Africa Cup final mess.
Said about Escobar no surprise from CONCACAF and OFC (it's a pitty that the new zealand will be only fourth official").
I do not follow strictly COMNEBOL but I was expecting less than 8 main referees; a part of Valanzuela, Abatti and Tello i don't see big names.
Enjoy and good luck to everyone
I am not from Central or South America but a post is in the works at the moment and should be ready in the next few days. At the moment I'm watching PSG-Liverpool, through to halftime - how can anyone say that the Gomes scisssor tackle wasn't worthy of a YC?(!) But overall clearly jittery and not good performance by Sanchez 'so far'.
Delete🚨 SCANDAL IN BULGARIAN REFEREEING WITH GEORGI KABAKOV: https://www.bfunion.bg/news/51742/0
ReplyDeleteThe recent public intervention by the leader of the Bulgarian Football Union in matters directly concerning referees and the Refereeing Committee represents a clear violation of the fundamental principle of refereeing independence. It must be clearly and unequivocally stated that the President has publicly demanded the suspension of referee Georgi Kabakov — a move that raises serious concerns about direct interference in refereeing autonomy. The overall image and credibility of refereeing in Bulgaria currently appear severely compromised, reflecting systemic governance failures and a loss of institutional trust.
Unbelievable...
DeleteAre we playing predictions game this year as well?
ReplyDeleteOT: Istvan Kovacs is finished with officiating at this year UCL campaign, not becouse the Barcelona complain, but becouse he made mistake when not exclude Cubaisi immediately. Sources are some newspapers from Eastern Europe.
ReplyDeleteI have published some posts on the blog's social channels about the UEFA referees who have been selected for the World Cup. The backlash against the Romanian Kovács after the Barcelona match is unbelievable. I’m increasingly shocked by the level of incompetence, stupidity, and ineptitude that most people seem to have reached today. I'm genuinely stunned, we all must be. Our friend osmanabbot is absolutely right: honestly, refereeing a match today, even one without particularly controversial incidents, feels almost impossible. Everyone turns against you and launches media campaigns based on nothing. It's truly unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteThere is a level of insolence that I have never seen before. People watch just that one match and think an entire referee's career should be judged based on it. In some ways, it's nauseating. People are reaching levels of stupidity, sorry for saying that, simply unbelievable.
Now, maybe Kovács made a mistake with the red card, and fine, but if anything, that would have been an error in Barcelona favor, only giving a yellow card to the player. Still, there is no point even getting into these discussions. I’m just stunned. As time goes on, it all feels more and more absurd.
And then on Facebook and social media: articles, posts, groups. claiming that referees are under investigation by UEFA after matches. There's a whole undercurrent of content that is just shocking .It’s shameful.
Let me say one thing: apart from occasional issues that can happen from time to time, I can only be satisfied with this blog, which keeps the art of refereeing at a very high level and offers meaningful discussions. Recently, I have noticed some complaints from users, and that's fair, because there have been some issues compared to the quality we had before. But if you go into the depths of social media, I can assure you, honestly, it would make you want to shut everything down when it comes to refereeing and stop altogether.
We have truly reached a point where stupidity reigns supreme. I won't add anything more, and sorry again for this post but I really can’t keep these thoughts to myself anymore. These people live in parallel words...
The vast majority of my time on this blog and discussions I have had with other users have been positive and engaging with different viewpoints discussed in a combative yet fair manner.
DeleteIn the "social media" era there seems to be a clamour and a want to tear people down for making a mistake. In most walks of a life if you make a mistake or an error no one is calling for you to lose your job or be blacklisted for eternity (exceptions do apply).
I think on the round we can be proud of the general level of discussion and I think the moderators and admins do an excellent job to manage a lot of different viewpoints especially when things are heated.
I think we all can call out a mistake when it occurs but let's do so in the right way and understanding why it happened and what the likelihood will be for the referee (example being no more games for a period). The clamour to "end" a career over a singular mistake is frankly nonsense and hopefully going forward we call understand and appreciate the pressure these human beings are under from all stakeholders and appreciate truly how difficult it is. I end this lengthy post agreeing with you Chefren that it is frustrating to see frankly nonsense but it is incumbent on the fair minded on us to provide a level of rationale.
Just yesterday, I also thought again about how proud you must be of the level of this group, which probably correlates significantly with the conscientious moderation: As an Austrian (without a World Cup referee), I came across numerous pages referring to Germany's only World Cup referee: Apart from his reheated past, many criticized that Deniz Aytekin was not chosen (he has not been a FIFA referee for some time) or that Sven Jablonski was overlooked (he was too junior in service when the list with the pre-selection was created). Okay: Using Spain as an example, we see that there is nothing that does not exist (wasn't Luis Medina Cantalejo in 2006 called in for Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez, while Herbert Fandel was left out and 'compensated' with the Champions League final?). Those who criticize most vehemently (in a punishable way) are often the most incompetent - the main thing is to vent their frustration.
DeleteWell they claim he purposely costed them in 24 with Araujo and no penalty incidents,similar to what we have seen this week.
DeleteThe lebel of audacity when things are not going their way is ridicoulous, same goes for Real Madrid and some other clubs that have their way and only complain refs when they lose.
But Barca si prime example.
They were not talking about anything and were not talking about refs when clear RC was not shown on Saturday.
This time they lost and now every single Kovacs decision is being questioned,possible penalty,Koke RC?,even Cubarsi's RC and so on...
Ridicoulous and media are the worst, their Catalan and Spanish media in general they crucified Kovacs and they bring some wild acusations in every new article.
Also,this thing that everyone is to blame for every defeat they suffered is laughable.
What now, Real and Atletico payed Kovacs by their logic?
Why you surprised like that Chefren? Just look at how people are with Felix, it's 50th time worse. In literally everywhere.
DeleteSorry everyone that I'm forced to go off topic, this is about Mikeal W accusations that I ( tevinjm) and Anonymous we are the same person and we write accordingly pretending to create a bias narrative, which is absolutely wrong. At first I was reading comments about anonymous' complaints and I was not moved ( big guns having a banter) not knowing that my name was also mentioned. Me can't imagine because am not even European but I enjoyed reading anonymous' comments because we share the same views on refereeing for example French influence, makkelie, Taylor even at a certain point I wanted to call him my brother from another mother because he was writing everything I also had in mind.
ReplyDeleteMikael W , I thought you had a meaningful reason but to come here and start comparing comments and their replies it's baseless and you should be ashamed of yourself because people will always support what they believe in in and so anonymous will always get compliments and anyone who we share same views that's to say even Chefren because IMO they carry unbiased analysis and also don't ignore some referees poor performances.
At last, for years I have been reading on this blog in the background just joined recently at the start of this year because I felt it was too much to bare for some comments as they were unexceptable
Why is everyone commenting the same, that Mikeal W is accusing them of being the same person?
DeleteHey, I guess it makes no sense to defend ourselves. It is wasted energy. I have mixed feelings: on one hand I don’t like to be wrongly accused. On the other hand: it must be hard for the Admins to separate posts, when >50% of the people use AI translators.
DeleteMikael - I just read the comments under the Barcelona vs Newcastle you were refering to. The comments were not extremely negative imo. In fact almost all referees get negative feedback here when they officiate high profile games. It’s part of the job. So if that is already reason to write a long piece of defense about the French phenomenon…. then this blog is basically the reflection of the political backroom debates and power talks in Nyon. Sadly.
Everyone here has a favorite ref and different taste. Personally I am an empathic person with high EQ. I shared my respect and praise to referees who, despite setbacks and political bullocks, stay mentally strong and reach top form again. I wrote this about Taylor, Makkelie and Siebert. But we can also mention Turpin who had a very strong 24/25 just after Letexier got the EURO final. I hope everyone here agrees with my statement about mental strenght. Perhaps we will see the very best version of Letexier next season if he does NOT get a final this season. Because setbacks make people stronger 🙂
Back ON-TOPIC. The fact that Sánchez (ESP) is not selected but was observed by Roberto Rosetti, could that indicate a Conference League final as a matter of “compensation”? The other option is Siebert (GER). In that case the UECL final referee could be decided by the winner of Mainz and Rayo Vallecano.
Please stop writing these 'rebukes' as the first new comment. The formulation of them looks inconsistent (on the one hand the Tevinjm character is supposed to be a bit illiterate but on the other he is understanding deep concepts) and lends people to think 'this is all a bit odd; I suspect Mikael is probably right'. You have to resist the temptation of trying to irritate me in order to make them better! I'm a bit sad because I thought we were making progress with professionalism's comment yesterday which was fine and the magnanimous reply on the EL post, but apparently we are back to parasite stuff with this.
DeleteFor anyone who cares about this stuff (and doubts this user's ability to create new accounts), there is the comment on this page:
Deletehttps://euro96ref.blogspot.com/2025/05/31czeger.html
I already said I only have one account. Honestly, it feels like I’m being accused just because I have a different opinion than you regarding who deserves the a final, which is not a good precedent for a discussion forum.
DeleteWe should be able to disagree without making personal accusations.
If I were you, I'd just stick to the professionalism account, because 'Anonymous' is (insofar as people have an opinion) associated with the conspiracies/fanaticism stuff. Your overall parasite rating for yesterday's comments is 6.5/10 (we are aiming for a low score like 0 or 1): you started a new discussion with this rebuke, and then replied to yourself on it, but the actual volume of comments was relatively low. Let's see if we can get the score to decrease over time!
DeleteHi Mikael, I dont know what this is actually about here, and whether in the context of the professionalism account my account is being mentioned, but I have to point out that I have absolutely nothing to do with the Anonymous profile or any others. I do not comment often, I have been here for almost a year, and I mostly join discussions when UEFA referees are being talked about, because honestly I do not know or follow referees outside Europe. In that regard I am not sure if I understood the discussion correctly, but I personally only have this account, and I have nothing to do with any other accounts. I have huge respect for you and Chefren and your excellent management of this blog, and that is what I have to say about you. I do not agree with many profiles, and I mostly criticize the committee for unfair appointments, but for everything else I have absolutely no connection, nor do I have the time as a person who has a job and works to create other profiles.
DeleteThank you for your understanding.
What do you think? Will Kovacs be assigned to lower-level World Cup matches because of what happened on Wednesday?
ReplyDeletePerhaps yes, because the longer the media keep on bragging about it
DeleteAbsolutely beautiful retro referee kits being used in this weeks La liga fixtures.
ReplyDeleteNot everything was perfect then either, but this was the era, at the time of those kits, when the third best-rated referee in Spain and an official from Italy with appmnts that today would make him a 'UEFA 2nd Cat' official could go to the Olympics and handle well matches like Ghana-Italy and Portugal-France which contained a level of difficulty which would be simply unbelieveable now, when UEFA and FIFA had the humility to (sometimes!) admit that things had gone wrong, and not only supported strictness from referees even when the outside decried them, but demanded it. Not everything was perfect then (one can only imagine how many comments a 1990s Law5 blog would have had with Sundell's appointment to and performance in Germany-Croatia!), and nostalgism is sometimes dangerous, but - there is nothing wrong in saying that things were much better then, actually. I don't care for the classless orange man, for what it is worth, but I do hope that one day, someone or some people can repare the vandalism of the last ≈15yrs and 'Make Refereeing Great Again'.
DeleteLooked like a clear foul and penalty at the end of RMA-GIR.
ReplyDeletehttps://streamff.com/v/b87a6bc5
DeleteI have a question regarding the Frenchman's acting in the play.
DeleteArm in the face and trips his legs… Clear and blatantly expected penalty…
Deletehttps://x.com/MadridUniversal/status/2042712168622104788 Mbappe left bleeding in the aftermath. Scandalous by Alberola Rojas and Trujillo (VAR) for something like this this late in the season with a title race.
DeleteWhat are your opinions about Meler absence?
ReplyDelete1) His treatment by UEFA was an utter, utter disgrace and among worst episodes in Rosetti's tenure; even if to award the penalty at Bruges was uncanny in the extreme, didactically speaking, the careless striking offence by Hien was a clear one. So, Meler was suspended not for making a wrong decision (because you cannot call it wrong!), but for 'triggering a medial reaction personally displeasureable to the UEFA refereeing director'. I would go so far as to call the episode 'shameful', personally.
Delete2) In general, Meler's abilities were a bit overestimated (technical accuracy not the highest, reflexively he doesn't arouse trust/respect from players but I've noticed he is working hard on soft skills and is improving in this aspect). I think it would have been a struggle for him to be selected for the World Cup even without the bad events that he experienced, especially regarding his lack of coherence to the Busacca philosophy. His performance at FIFA level in AlAhly-AlAin was not especially distinguished either, to be honest.
3) Remember he was already cut from the list at the same time as Siebert, Serdar, Kruzliak etc so his absense was fully expected and not a surprise.
https://www.streambug.io/cv/1ffca0
ReplyDeleteI have the feeling that VAR missed the elbow.
His face was bleeding. If they still missed it, it’s a case for suspension a few weeks. It’s a blatant penalty.
DeleteI think the discussion about our own responsibility to work out the level of communication again, which we all were without doubt proud of here some longer time ago.
ReplyDeleteWhen we want to know how we went down into bullying and fake accounts, we should not deny that our discussions here a
... are still generally driven by the serious try of analyzing the newer developments, including the extreme and emberassing tendencies generally coming from antisocial media bots. One comment @ our beloved refereegroupies: Your problem is not the existence of those caring about the level of our discussions here and who exclude those who do not even try to argue in a professional or at least fair way. Your problem is the fact that your "fanposts" do not at all in any way CAN HELP the referees you want to support, BECAUSE WE ALL HERE don't have as much influence on those who decide about referee's careers as you might think or assume. So don't waste your time and remember that football, which we all love so much, is still a GAME, which works the best, when refs take charge of its basic .
DeleteAnd our job are discussions about interpreting those rules and so maybe sometimes having a bit influence on the development of the football culture and the reality on the pitch. And, hey, it's not all sad and black, what's happening. Especially referees on top need AND GET help like supervision for dealing with the increasing pressure coming from social media, clubs in general incl. Mafia in - still very few - cases. So we all are asked even to discuss issues like the psychological preparation of games, support of our comrades who suffer from bad days they had and accompanying the world of refereeing in a way that we learn to be part of the solution in stead of getting part of the problem!