2018 FIFA World Cup officials explained

The following is a list of match officials (referees, assistant referees, and video assistant referees) who officiated at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Referees and assistant referees

On 29 March 2018, FIFA published the list of 36 referees and 63 assistant referees, on the basis of nationality, from all six football confederations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.^[1] These were selected from a longlist of 53 trios.^[2]

Out of these, one referee and one assistant referee were dropped from the list and were not replaced. The two assistant referees associated with the dropped referee also withdrew, but were replaced in the roster.^{[3] [4]}

On 12 July 2018, FIFA announced that Argentine referee Néstor Pitana would take charge of the final.^[5]

Confederation	Referee	Assistant referees
AFC	Alireza Faghani (Iran)	Reza Sokhandan (Iran) Mohammadreza Mansouri (Iran)
	Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)	Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Jakhongir Saidov (Uzbekistan)
	Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)	Mohamed Al Hammadi (United Arab Emirates) Hasan Al Mahri (United Arab Emirates)
	Ryuji Sato (Japan)	Toru Sagara (Japan) Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan)
	Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)	Yaser Tulefat (Bahrain) Taleb Al Maari (Qatar)
CAF	Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria)	Anouar Hmila (Tunisia)
	Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)	Djibril Camara (Senegal) El Hadji Samba (Senegal)
	Bakary Gassama (Gambia)	Jean Claude Birumushahu (Burundi) Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria)
	Gehad Grisha (Egypt)	Redouane Achik (Morocco) Waleed Ahmed (Sudan)
	Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)	Jerson Dos Santos (Angola) Zakhele Siwela (South Africa)
	Bamlak Tessema Weyesa (Ethiopia)
CONCACAF	Joel Aguilar (El Salvador)	Juan Zumba (El Salvador) Juan Carlos Mora (Costa Rica)
	Mark Geiger (United States)	Joe Fletcher (Canada) Frank Anderson (United States)
	Jair Marrufo (United States)	Corey Rockwell (United States) Juan Zumba (El Salvador)
	César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)	Marvin Torrentera (Mexico) Miguel Hernández (Mexico)
	Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica)
	John Pitti (Panama)	Gabriel Victoria (Panama)
CONMEBOL	Julio Bascuñán (Chile)	Carlos Astroza (Chile) Christian Schiemann (Chile)
	Enrique Cáceres (Paraguay)	Eduardo Cardozo (Paraguay) Juan Zorrilla (Paraguay)
	Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)	Nicolás Taran (Uruguay) Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay)
	Néstor Pitana (Argentina)	Hernán Maidana (Argentina) Juan Pablo Belatti (Argentina)
	Sandro Ricci (Brazil)	Emerson de Carvalho (Brazil) Marcelo Van Gasse (Brazil)
	Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)	Alexander Guzmán (Colombia) Cristian de la Cruz (Colombia)
OFC	Matthew Conger (New Zealand)	Simon Lount (New Zealand) Tevita Makasini (Tonga)
	Norbert Hauata (Tahiti)	Bertrand Brial (New Caledonia)
UEFA	Felix Brych (Germany)	Mark Borsch (Germany) Stefan Lupp (Germany)
	Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)	Bahattin Duran (Turkey) Tarık Ongun (Turkey)
	Sergei Karasev (Russia)	Anton Averianov (Russia) Tikhon Kalugin (Russia)
	Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)	Sander van Roekel (Netherlands) Erwin Zeinstra (Netherlands)
	Szymon Marciniak (Poland)	Paweł Sokolnicki (Poland) Tomasz Listkiewicz (Poland)
	Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)	Pau Cebrián Devís (Spain) Roberto Díaz Pérez (Spain)
	Milorad Mažić (Serbia)	Milovan Ristić (Serbia) Dalibor Đurđević (Serbia)
	Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)	Elenito Di Liberatore (Italy) Mauro Tonolini (Italy)
	Damir Skomina (Slovenia)	Jure Praprotnik (Slovenia) Robert Vukan (Slovenia)
	Clément Turpin (France)	Cyril Gringore (France) Nicolas Danos (France)

Video assistant referees

On 30 April 2018, FIFA announced 13 video assistant referees (VARs) had been appointed.^{[6] [7]} For each World Cup game, there will be one VAR and three AVARs (Assistant Video Assistant Referees), each responsible for different situations. They will be supporting the main referee from the Video Operation Room based at the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Moscow.^[8]

Confederation	VAR
AFC	Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
CONMEBOL	Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
	Gery Vargas (Bolivia)
	Mauro Vigliano (Argentina)
UEFA	Bastian Dankert (Germany)
	Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
	Paweł Gil (Poland)
	Massimiliano Irrati (Italy)
	Tiago Martins (Portugal)
	Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
	Daniele Orsato (Italy)
	Paolo Valeri (Italy)
	Felix Zwayer (Germany)

Referees withdrawn and replaced

Referee Fahad Al-Mirdasi (Saudi Arabia) was withdrawn due to attempted match-fixing at the 2018 King Cup Final.^[9] His assistant referees were also withdrawn:

• Mohammed Al-Abakry (Saudi Arabia)
• Abdulah Al-Shalwai (Saudi Arabia)

No referee was called up to replace Al-Mirdasi, but two assistant referees were called up to complete the referee teams of Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates) and Ryuji Sato (Japan), respectively:^{[10] [11]}

• Hasan Al Mahri (United Arab Emirates)
• Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan)

Assistant referee Marwa Range (Kenya) also withdrew after the BBC released an investigation conducted by a Ghanaian journalist which implicated Marwa in a bribery scandal.^[12]

External links

• FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of match officials

Notes and References

1. Web site: FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of match officials . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . PDF . 29 March 2018 . 19 June 2018 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180330012652/http://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/list-of-match-officials-for-the-2018-fifa-world-cuptm.pdf?cloudid=ygppy1zdhjaxituykarn . 30 March 2018.
2. News: 36 referees and 63 assistant referees appointed as Russia 2018 Match Officials . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . 29 March 2018 . 21 June 2018.
3. Web site: FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: Updated list of match officials . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . PDF . June 2018 . 21 June 2018.
4. Web site: Referees of the 2018 FIFA World Cup: Statistical Kit . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . PDF . 5 June 2018 . 21 June 2018.
5. Web site: Néstor Pitana to referee the World Cup Final.
6. News: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - News - Thirteen video assistant referees appointed for 2018 FIFA World Cup . FIFA.com. www.fifa.com. 15 May 2018.
7. Web site: FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of Video match officials . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . PDF . 27 April 2018 . 20 June 2018.
8. Web site: VAR at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Football Technology. en. 15 May 2018.
9. Web site: World Cup 2018: Referee Fahad Al-Mirdasi dropped for attempted match fixing in Saudi Arabia. BBC Sport. 30 May 2018.
10. Web site: FIFA statement on the situation of the Saudi Arabian referee Fahad AL MIRDASI. FIFA.com. 30 May 2018.
11. Web site: FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: Updated list of match officials . FIFA.com . Fédération Internationale de Football Association . PDF . May 2018 . 21 June 2018 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180601111503/https://img.fifa.com/image/upload/a51h8gler97tck1jfsul.pdf . 1 June 2018.
12. Web site: Betraying the Game: African officials filmed taking cash. 7 June 2018. BBC.