Sports
World Cup 2026: American Ismail Elfath to referee England v Argentina
Fifa has announced American referee Ismail Elfath will take charge of England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
The 44-year-old officiated group games between Japan and the Netherlands and Uruguay versus Spain in the tournament, as well as Norway’s last-16 victory over five-time winners Brazil.
He has issued six yellow cards and shown Uruguay midfielder Agustin Canobbio a straight red card for a high challenge on Spain defender Pau Cubarsi.
After he was dismissed, Canobbio confronted the referee and grabbed his shirt.
The game in Atlanta on Wednesday (20:00 BST) will be shown live on BBC One.
Fellow Americans Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins will be assistant referees while Italian Maurizio Mariani is the fourth official.
Elfath also officiated at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and was the fourth official for the final between France and Argentina.
In a group game four years ago Elfath shook the hand of Vincent Aboubakar before sending off the Cameroon striker for taking his shirt off while celebrating the winner against Brazil.
Elfath has officiated in Major League Soccer since 2012 and has twice won MLS referee of the year.
He was referee when Lionel Messi won his first trophy for Inter Miami – a penalty shootout win over Nashville SC in the 2023 Leagues Cup final.
Originally from Morocco, Elfath moved to America as an 18-year-old after winning a US government-backed diversity visa lottery.
Meanwhile, England’s Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have been ruled out of contention to referee the World Cup final because of Fifa regulations around conflict of interest.
Referees cannot take charge of matches involving their own country, but English and Argentine officials also cannot referee games involving the two nations because of their political rivalry, in part because of the Falklands conflict in 1982.
Argentine referee Facundo Tello is out of contention for the same reason, with all three officials also ineligible for the third-place play-off as it is guaranteed to involve one of the teams.
The regulations also ruled Taylor out of refereeing the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.
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