FIFA name officials for 2026 World Cup

By: Bernard Nyankomago Kwasi

With almost two and half months to kick-off the biggest showpiece in Global Football, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has announced officials who will handle the various matches.

In all 52 Referees, 88 Assistant Referees and 30 Video Assistant Referees from across all 6 Confederations and 50 Member Associations are selected for the World Cup.

48 teams will compete for glory in the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup to be co hosted by USA, Canada, Mexico.

Mexico will set the ball rolling with an expected thrilling encounter against South Africa on June 17, 2026 in a Group A fixture.

Ahead of the tournament, the world’s football governing body who are the main organisers of the 2026 World Cup has selected trusted and highly professional officials for the matches.

Below are names of the 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