FANS are preparing themselves to see some entertaining free-flowing football at the World Cup – but that depends on the referee in charge.
FIFA have officially announced their lengthy list of match officials to referee at football’s biggest cup competition.
And among those, are some highly-rated referees who have officiated on numerous big occasions.
Find out what refs will be at the winter World Cup below...
Who are the confirmed referees for the World Cup 2022?
There will be a total of 39 referees to officiate at the World Cup in Qatar.
And history will be made as this will be the first FIFA men’s tournament where women have also been selected to officiate games at the tournament.
Italy’s Daniele Orsato has been named as the referee for the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador.
Here is the full list of referees for the World Cup 2022:
- Ivan Barton (Salvador)
- Chris Beath (Australia)
- Raphael Claus (Brazil)
- Matthew Conger (New Zealand)
- Michael Oliver (England)
- Anthony Taylor (England)
- Ismail Elfath (United States)
- 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 (Netherlands)
- Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
- Said Martinez (Honduras)
- Antonio Mateu (Spain)
- Andres Matias Matonte Cabrera (Uruguay)
- Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed (UAE)
- Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda)
- Maguette N’Diaye (Senegal)
- Daniele Orsato (Italy)
- Kevin Ortega (Peru)
- Cesar Ramos (Mexico)
- Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
- Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
- Daniel Siebert (Germany)
- Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
- Facundo Tello (Argentina)
- Clement Turpin (France)
- Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)
- Slavko Vincic(Slovenia)
- Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan)
When is the 2022 World Cup?
- Group stages for the Qatar World Cup will start on Sunday, November 20. This was moved a day earlier than planned in order for Qatar to play in the opening fixture.
- Second-round fixtures will be played between December 3 and 6.
- The quarter-finals take place on December 9 and 10.
- Semi-finals are set for December 13 and 14.
- The final of the 2022 World Cup will be on December 18, just one week before Christmas.
