Two Arab referees in the golden square of the World Cup: Jid and Al-Makhadmeh make history

Image caption, Jordanian Adham Al-Makhadmeh officiated the Belgium vs. United States match in the round of 16 and is in the shortlist to officiate the semifinals

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Argentina, France, Spain and England are competing for the tournament title in the final four.

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The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has revealed the shortlist of referees for the final matches of the 2026 World Cup, which includes the semifinals, the final, and the third-place match, featuring four teams: Argentina, France, Spain and England.

The World Cup referees shortlist includes only 13 center referees to officiate the decisive stages, which consist of four remaining matches to determine the world champion and runner-up, and the third and fourth place finishers.

The list includes two referees from the Arab world: Jordanian Adham Al-Makhadmeh and Moroccan Jalal Jid, in addition to 18 video assistant referees (VAR).

According to FIFA's announcement, Salvadoran referee Iván Barton will officiate the France vs. Spain semifinal of the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday evening, his seventh match in the current tournament, assisted by his compatriots David Morán and Antonio Pouperio as assistant referees. Swedish Glenn Nyberg will be the fourth official, and his compatriot Mahbod Beigi will serve as the reserve assistant referee.

Barton is considered one of the top referees in the CONCACAF region, with a distinguished record of officiating around 280 matches in various competitions, including many finals in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Meanwhile, American referee of Moroccan origin Ismail Elfath will officiate the other anticipated semifinal between England and Argentina.

Elfath has officiated three matches in the World Cup: Japan vs. Netherlands, Spain vs. Uruguay, and Brazil vs. Norway.

Ismail Elfath will serve as center referee for the match, assisted by American assistant referees Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins, while Italian Maurizio Mariani has been selected as fourth official.

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The selection of these two referees for the semifinals means they are excluded from officiating the two final matches of the World Cup.

Arab representation at the World Cup semifinals

Image caption, Moroccan referee Jalal Jid officiated the Germany vs. Paraguay match in the round of 32 of the World Cup

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Arabs are present at the World Cup semifinals with two prominent referees in the current tournament, the first being Jordanian engineer Adham Al-Makhadmeh, 39, who has drawn significant attention during the previous rounds and is the only referee in the tournament to have officiated four matches so far.

He received his FIFA international badge in 2013, and achieved an unprecedented record in the current World Cup by officiating the highest number of matches, starting with the Spain vs. Cape Verde match (June 15, 2026) and the New Zealand vs. Belgium match (June 27, 2026) in the group stage.

Then the England vs. Democratic Republic of Congo match (July 1, 2026) in the round of 32.

In the round of 16, he officiated the USA vs. Belgium match, which received significant media and political attention.

As for the second Arab representative and the only African representative in the final rounds, it is Moroccan referee Jalal Jid, 40, who received his FIFA international badge in 2019.

He has officiated three matches so far in the World Cup: Germany vs. Curaçao, Portugal vs. Uzbekistan in the group stage, and in the round of 32 he officiated Germany vs. Paraguay, thus equaling the record of the late Saïd Belqola as the Moroccan referee with the most World Cup matches officiated.

He also served as the fourth official in the England vs. Mexico match in the round of 16.

Exclusion of the referee of the Egypt vs. Argentina match

Image caption, French referee François Letexier caused controversy due to his decisions in the Egypt vs. Argentina match

Who is French referee François Letexier, the referee of the Egypt vs. Argentina match?

FIFA regulations require the exclusion of center referees whose national teams have advanced to the semifinals from officiating matches, and that only referees whose teams have been eliminated from the knockout stages should be used.

This rule does not apply to confederations; despite three European teams in the semifinals, the FIFA Referees Committee selected five center referees from UEFA for the semifinals, and despite the presence of Argentina, FIFA selected two referees from South America.

Based on this rule, the Referees Committee decided to exclude French referee François Letexier, who officiated the Egypt vs. Argentina match in the round of 16, which saw widespread objections from Egyptian fans due to a number of controversial refereeing decisions.

Given the presence of the French national team in the semifinals, a French referee cannot officiate any matches in this sensitive and decisive stage.

There were reports suggesting that the exclusion of the French referee was a punishment for his refereeing performance in the Egypt vs. Argentina match, which ended with Messi and his teammates winning 3-2.

However, this rule does not apply to video assistant referees (VAR); French Jérôme Brisard, the video referee for the Egypt vs. Argentina match, continues and will participate in the semifinals from a list of 18 referees.

The list of video assistant referees includes the continuation of Tatiana Guzmán from Nicaragua, who becomes the only woman remaining among the VAR refereeing team in the final stages of the tournament.

What is the referees shortlist?

The current World Cup has witnessed exceptional events in terms of refereeing, most notably an unprecedented increase in the number of referees in history, with the addition of 16 teams in this edition. Up to 170 referees, assistant referees (flag bearers), and video assistant referees were called up, including 51 center referees to officiate 104 matches.

Now that the competition has entered its final stages, the FIFA Referees Committee announced the shortlist, taking into account diverse representation from continental confederations with center referees at this stage, while excluding referees from countries that qualified for the semifinals. The breakdown is as follows:

From the Asian Football Confederation: Two referees were selected: Alireza Faghani (Australia) and Adham Al-Makhadmeh (Jordan).

From the African Football Confederation: Only one referee from Africa, Jalal Jid, from Morocco.

From CONCACAF: Only two referees: Iván Barton (El Salvador) and Ismail Elfath (United States).

From South America: Two referees were selected: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil) and Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela).