Jordanian Adham Makhadmeh became the fourth Arab to participate in a World Cup final after FIFA selected him as the fourth official in the refereeing team led by Slavko Vinčić in the final match that will bring together Argentina and Spain on July 19 at New York-New Jersey Stadium.

FIFA chose Makhadmeh as fourth official, while his compatriot will be a reserve assistant referee, as it is the third time in history that an Arab referee has been present in the most important match in football.

Arab referees first appeared in the 1934 World Cup through Egyptian Youssef Mohamed, who was an assistant in that tournament, and 32 years later, his compatriot Ali Kandil became the first Arab referee to participate in a World Cup as a center referee.

The historic moment for Arab referees came in 1998 when FIFA chose Moroccan Said Belqola to referee the final between France and Brazil, and Saudi Abdul Rahman Al-Zaid as fourth official.

In the 2022 edition final, American-Moroccan Ismail Elfath was the fourth official in the match that Argentina won against France on penalties.

Ad material

Ad material