With an expanded 48-team format and 104 matches to be contested at the 2026 World Cup, this summer's tournament will feature more referees than any previous edition.
In early April, FIFA confirmed 52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials from all six confederations and 50 association members will feature in the group called 'Team One'.
The total figure of match officials is 41 more than the total at Qatar 2022 and includes six women match officials, which FIFA believe is evidence of their aim to "further develop women’s refereeing".
Match officials will be based in Miami, while video match officals will be situated in Dallas, which will be home to the International Broadcast Centre.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said: “The selected match officials are the very best in the world.
"They were part of a wider pool of officials that was identified and monitored over the past three years. They have attended seminars and officiated at FIFA tournaments.
"In addition, their performances in domestic and international matches were regularly assessed. The selected officials have received, and will continue to receive, comprehensive support from our fitness coaches and medical staff, including physiotherapists and a mental specialist."
UEFA are the best represented officiating confederation with a total of 15 referees appearing at the World Cup, including England's Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver.
UEFA is followed by CONMEBOL with 12 referees, CONCACAF with nine, AFC with eight and CAF with seven. The OFC has just one referee in the World Cup: New Zealand's Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh.
Referees at the 2026 World Cup
AFC
- Omar Al Ali (UAE)
- Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
- Khalid Al-Turais (Saudi Arabia)
- Alireza Faghani (Australia)
- Ma Ning (China)
- Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)
- Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)
- Yusuke Araki (Japan)
CAF
- Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia)
- Pierre Atcho (Gabon)
- Dahane Beida (Mauritania)
- Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
- Jalal Jayed (Morocco)
- Amin Mohamed Omar (Egypt)
- Abongile Tom (South Africa)
CONCACAF
- Iván Barton (El Salvador)
- Juan Gabriel Calderón (Costa Rica)
- Ismail Elfath (United States)
- Oshane Nation (Jamaica)
- Drew Fischer (Canada)
- Katia Itzel García (Mexico)
- Saíd Martínez (Honduras)
- Tori Penso (United States)
- César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
CONMEBOL
- Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
- Juan Gabriel Benítez (Paraguay)
- Raphael Claus (Brazil)
- Yael Falcón (Argentina)
- Cristián Garay (Chile)
- Darío Herrera (Argentina)
- Kevin Ortega (Peru)
- Andrés Rojas (Colombia)
- Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
- Gustavo Tejera (Uruguay)
- Facundo Tello (Argentina)
- Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
OFC
- Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)
UEFA
- Espen Eskås (Norway)
- Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Spain)
- István Kovács (Romania)
- François Letexier (France)
- Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
- Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
- Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
- Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
- Michael Oliver (England)
- João Pinheiro (Portugal)
- Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
- Anthony Taylor (England)
- Clément Turpin (France)
- Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
- Felix Zwayer (Germany)
