The Qatar 2022 World Cup referees

It should come as no surprise that the main characters of the football game are the actual players who compete on the field. However, in recent years, the coaches themselves have played an increasingly important role. From the bench, they are able to make decisions and give tactical indications that have the potential to decide a match.

However, there is one more figure in the world of football that is just as significant as the others, and that is the referee. Without the referee, no one is even allowed to step foot on the field anymore. The job of the referee is by far the most difficult of them all because of the complexity involved in closely following the action, analyzing what is going on, and coming to a decision in a short amount of time. Also, because in today’s world, no matter what takes place, for every decision the referee makes, there is at least one player who is upset about it. Not to mention an entire group of people.

All of the international whistlers are getting a lot of help from the technology that is increasingly being introduced into the world of football at the behest of FIFA and UEFA, but their job is not getting any easier and is still fraught with uncertainty. 

It should come as no surprise that this also applies to international competitions, which are games played between national teams representing different continents. This year, it will occur in an unusual way at the World Cup in Qatar, which will take place between the 21st of November and the 28th of December 2022: in point of fact, the best referees on the planet will also be at the World Cup.

A little over two months ago, FIFA, in particular the president of the referee’s committee, Pierluigi Collina, and his referee director, Massimo Busacca, made official the list of all of the referees, linesmen, and VAR staff who have been called up and will be present in Qatar. There are a total of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees, and 24 members of the video assistant referee staff. 

For the very first time in the tournament’s long and illustrious history, three female referees will be present at the World Cup. They are Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda, and Stephanie Frappart from France. Frappart has already officiated at Euro 2020. But that is not the end of it. In point of fact, Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Daz Medina from Mexico, and Kathryn Nesbitt from the United States of America were recruited to serve as assistants.

All of the officials who will be officiating at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Abdulrahman Al Jassim (Qatar)

Ivan Barton (El Salvador)

Chris Beath (Australia)

Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

Ismail Elfath (USA)

Mario Escobar (Guatemala)

Alireza Faghani (Iran)

Stephanie Frappart (France)

Bakary Gassama (Gambia)

Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Victor Gomes (South Africa)

Istvan Kovacs (Romania)

Ning Ma (China)

Danny Makkelie (Netherland)

Szymon Marciniak (Poland)

Said Martinez (Honduras)

Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain)

Andres Matias Matonte Cabrera (Uruguay)

Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed (U.A.E)

Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda)

Maguette Ndiaye (Senegal)

Michael Oliver (England)

Daniele Orsato (Italy)

Kevin Ortega (Peru)

Cesar Ramos (Mexico)

Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)

Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)

Daniel Siebert (Germania)

Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)

Anthony Taylor (England)

Facundo Tello (Argentina)

Clement Turpin (France)

Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)

Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)

Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan)