The selection of Qatari international referee Khamis Mohammed Al-Marri by the FIFA Referees Committee to serve as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) within the officiating crew assigned to manage the final of the 2026 World Cup between Argentina and Spain on Sunday is a culmination of his career in refereeing. Al-Marri is one of the most prominent elite referees in the Asian continent, born on July 6, 1984, in the Qatari capital Doha. He grew up in an environment that witnessed a boom in sports infrastructure, and was drawn to refereeing, beginning his actual practice through local pathways in the mid-2000s, and received his first technical training and development of his talent under the supervision and guidance of the refereeing committees affiliated with the Qatar Football Association, until he obtained the international badge from the International Football Federation (FIFA) in 2010. The Qatari referee stands 178 cm tall and weighs 73 kg, which gave him the physical readiness to manage matches with high efficiency. Al-Marri progressed through local competitions and officiated more than 130 matches in the Qatar Stars League. During his refereeing career, Al-Marri officiated 222 matches in various competitions and tournaments, showing 40 yellow cards, sent off 20 players after receiving a second yellow card, and sent off the same number directly, and awarded 90 penalty kicks. The 41-year-old participated in many continental tournaments and international competitions, including the 2018 World Cup qualifiers for the Asian Football Confederation teams, with 12 matches starting with a match between Nepal and India. He also officiated matches in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the UAE, the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, in addition to officiating 4 matches in the AFC U-19 Championship, and one match in the AFC U-23 Cup. Al-Marri's refereeing journey witnessed a notable technological shift with the adoption of the Video Assistant Referee technology, and he won the Best Video Referee award in the Qatar Football Association Awards for 2023. His duties as an international video referee expanded as he was selected to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, followed by his appointment to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, where he officiated several matches, most notably the quarter-final match between Chelsea of England and Palmeiras of Brazil in July 2025. He was also selected among the Qatari refereeing crew participating in the 2025 Arab Cup. He was also entrusted with managing important final matches, such as the 2020-2021 Qatar Cup final between Al-Duhail and Al-Sadd, and the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship final between Japan and Saudi Arabia. During his journey in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Al-Marri officiated 8 matches in the Asian qualifying rounds. The International Federation crowned the long career of the Qatari referee by employing him among the World Cup refereeing elite, when he was officially listed in the video refereeing crew for the 2026 World Cup alongside the Qatari team consisting of Abdulrahman Al-Jassim, Taleb Al-Marri, and Saud Al-Maqaleh. After officiating several matches in the early rounds of the World Cup, including the match between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the FIFA Referees Committee selected Khamis Al-Marri to be part of the refereeing crew for the 2026 World Cup final match, making this milestone the highlight of his sporting history.