Referee Ismail Elfath to officiate England vs Argentina semi-final

Atlanta. Referee Ismail Elfath, who was in a decisive role when Lionel Messi won the title twice, will officiate the semi-final match between England and Argentina in the World Cup.

44-year-old American referee Elfath has already officiated group stage matches between Japan and Netherlands and Uruguay and Spain in this ongoing World Cup. Besides this, he also officiated Norway's victory against five-time champions Brazil in the Round of 16.

In the ongoing tournament, he has already issued 6 yellow cards and directly sent off Uruguayan midfielder Agustin Canobbio with a red card for a dangerous tackle on Spanish defender Pau Cubarsi. After receiving the red card, the enraged Canobbio grabbed referee Elfath and pulled his jersey. It will be held in Atlanta on Wednesday at 12:45 AM Nepali time.

American assistant referees Cory Parker and Kyle Atkins will assist Elfath in this match, while Maurizio Mariani of Italy will be the fourth official. Elfath was the fourth official on the field when Argentina defeated France in the 2022 World Cup final.

Similarly, Elfath was the main referee when Messi won his first title for Inter Miami, i.e., in the 2023 League Cup final against Nashville SC, which was won in a penalty shootout. Refereeing in Major League Soccer (MLS) since 2012, he has won the 'MLS Referee of the Year' award twice. Originally a resident of Morocco, Elfath moved to the United States at the age of 18 after winning the US government's Diversity Visa (DV) lottery.

On the other hand, renowned English referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have been ruled out of officiating the World Cup final due to FIFA's conflict of interest rules. According to FIFA's rules, referees cannot officiate matches involving their own country. Additionally, due to the political rivalry created by the 1982 Falklands War, English and Argentinian referees cannot officiate matches involving these two countries.

Due to this rule, Argentinian referee Facundo Tello has also been ruled out. Since England and Argentina will face each other in the semi-finals, all three of these referees are also ineligible to officiate the third-place play-off match, as one of these two teams will be guaranteed to participate in that game.

Previously, due to the same rule, Taylor was unable to officiate the 2022 World Cup final match between Argentina and France.