FIFA has released the list of match officials set to oversee this summer's World Cup, featuring 52 referees, 88 assistant referees, and 30 video assistant referees drawn from all six confederations and 50 member associations.
Canada will have three officials at the tournament.
Drew Fischer
The 45-year-old will be Canada's sole representative among the 52 referees at the tournament.
Fischer has built up an impressive résumé over the years, having served as a video assistant referee at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, officiated the MLS Cup final between Inter Miami and the Vancouver Whitecaps, and taken charge of various other high-profile matches and tournaments.
He was named MLS Referee of the Year in both 2024 and 2025.
Lyes Arfa
The Moscow-born 39-year-old will serve as an assistant referee at the tournament.
Having moved to Algeria at just one year old before relocating to Laval a decade later, Lyes Arfa has been on the FIFA list of referees and assistant referees since 2021, and has been appointed to Canadian Premier League and Major League Soccer matches since 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Michael Barwegen
The Lethbridge, Alberta native began refereeing at just 12 years old with the Coaldale and District Soccer Association.
He has held FIFA referee status since 2018, earning appointments to various youth tournaments, including the 2019 Concacaf Men's U17 Championship and the FIFA U17 World Cup that same year.
He also officiated at the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup.
The full list of match officials for the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Referees (52):
- Abdulrahman Al Jassim (QAT)
- Khalid Al Turais (KSA)
- Yusuke Araki (JPN)
- Omar Abdulkadir Artan (SOM)
- Pierre Atcho (GAB)
- Ivan Barton (SLV)
- Dahane Beida (MTN)
- Juan Gabriel Benítez (PAR)
- Juan Calderón (CRC)
- Raphael Claus (BRA)
- Ismail Elfath (USA)
- Espen Eskas (NOR)
- Alireza Faghani (AUS)
- Yael Falcon Perez (ARG)
- Drew Fischer (CAN)
- Katia Garcia (MEX)
- Cristian Garay (CHI)
- Mustapha Ghorbal (ALG)
- Alejandro Hernández (ESP)
- Darío Herrera (ARG)
- Jalal Jayed (MAR)
- Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (NZL)
- Istvan Kovacs (ROU)
- Francois Letexier (FRA)
- Ning Ma (CHN)
- Adham Makhadmeh (JOR)
- Danny Makkelie (NED)
- Szymon Marciniak (POL)
- Maurizio Mariani (ITA)
- Hector Said Martinez (HON)
- Amin Mohamed (EGY)
- Oshane Nation (JAM)
- Glenn Nyberg (SWE)
- Michael Oliver (ENG)
- Omar Al Ali (UAE)
- Kevin Ortega (PER)
- Tori Penso (USA)
- João Pinheiro (POR)
- Ramon Abatti (BRA)
- César Ramos (MEX)
- Andrés Rojas (COL)
- Sandro Schaerer (SUI)
- Ilgiz Tantashev (UZB)
- Anthony Taylor (ENG)
- Gustavo Tejera (URU)
- Facundo Tello (ARG)
- Abongile Tom (RSA)
- Clement Turpin (FRA)
- Jesús Valenzuela (VEN)
- Slavko Vincic (SVN)
- Wilton Sampaio (BRA)
- Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referees (88):
- Amos Abeigne (GAB)
- Mahmoud Abouelregal (EGY)
- Mostafa Akarkad (MAR)
- Mohammed Al Abakry (KSA)
- Mohamed Al Hammadi (UAE)
- Mohammad Al Kalaf (JOR)
- Saoud Al Maqaleh (QAT)
- Taleb Al Marri (QAT)
- Ahmad Al Roalle (JOR)
- Lyes Arfa (CAN)
- Kyle Atkins (USA)
- Carlos Barreiro (URU)
- Michael Barwegen (CAN)
- Isaak Bashevkin (NOR)
- Mahbod Beigi (SWE)
- Juan Pablo Belatti (ARG)
- Gary Beswick (ENG)
- Daniele Bindoni (ITA)
- Marco Bisguerra (MEX)
- Zakaria Brinsi (MAR)
- Bruno Boschilia (BRA)
- Bruno Pires (BRA)
- Stuart Burt (ENG)
- Eduardo Cardozo (PAR)
- Gabriel Chade (ARG)
- Danilo Manis (BRA)
- Nicolas Danos (FRA)
- Stephane De Almeida (SUI)
- Jan De Vries (NED)
- Maximiliano Del Yesso (ARG)
- Christian Dietz (GER)
- Boris Ditsoga (GAB)
- Jan Erik Engan (NOR)
- Rodrigo Figueiredo (BRA)
- Timur Gaynullin (UZB)
- Mokrane Gourari (ALG)
- Alexander Guzman (COL)
- Ahmed Hossam Taha (EGY)
- Jerson Santos (ANG)
- Bruno Jesus (POR)
- Robert Kempter (GER)
- Tomaz Klancnik (SVN)
- Andraz Kovacic (SVN)
- Adam Kupsik (POL)
- George Lakrindis (AUS)
- James Lindsay (AUS)
- Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL)
- Walter Lopez (HON)
- Luciano Maia (POR)
- James Mainwaring (ENG)
- Mihai Marica (ROU)
- Brooke Mayo (USA)
- Jun Mihara (JPN)
- Juan Carlos Mora (CRC)
- David Moran (SLV)
- Tulio Moreno (VEN)
- Alberto Morin (MEX)
- Cyril Mugnier (FRA)
- José Enrique Naranjo Pérez (ESP)
- Cristian Navarro (ARG)
- Kathryn Nesbitt (USA)
- Elvis Noupue (CMR)
- Adam Nunn (ENG)
- Michael Orue (PER)
- Benjamin Pages (FRA)
- Corey Parker (USA)
- Antonio Pupiro (NCA)
- Rafael Alves (BRA)
- Mehdi Rahmouni (FRA)
- Christian Ramirez (HON)
- Sandra Ramirez (MEX)
- Jose Retamal (CHI)
- Miguel Rocha (CHI)
- Facundo Rodríguez (ARG)
- Milciades Saldivar (PAR)
- Diego Sanchez (ESP)
- Zakhele Siwela (RSA)
- Andreas Soderkvist (SWE)
- Hessel Steegstra (NED)
- Nicolas Taran (URU)
- Alberto Tegoni (ITA)
- Isaac Trevis (NZL)
- Andrey Tsapenko (UZB)
- Ferencz Tunyogi (ROU)
- Jorge Urrego (VEN)
- Caleb Wales (TRI)
- Abbes Akram Zerhouni (ALG)
- Fei Zhou (CHN)
Video Match Officials (30):
- Khamis Al-Marri (QAT)
- Abdullah Alshehri (KSA)
- Mahmoud Ashour (EGY)
- Ivan Bebek (CRO)
- Jerome Brisard (FRA)
- Bastian Dankert (GER)
- Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP)
- Marco Di Bello (ITA)
- Joe Dickerson (USA)
- Rob Dieperink (NED)
- Hamza El Fariq (MAR)
- Shaun Evans (AUS)
- Ming Fu (CHN)
- Nicolas Gallo (COL)
- Antonio Garcia (URU)
- Jarred Gillett (ENG)
- Leodan Gonzalez (URU)
- Tatiana Guzman (NCA)
- Dennis Higler (NED)
- Tomasz Kwiatkowski (POL)
- Juan Lara (CHI)
- Hernan Mastrangelo (ARG)
- Erick Miranda (MEX)
- Mohammed Obaid Khadim (UAE)
- Guillermo Pacheco (MEX)
- Fedayi San (SUI)
- Juan Soto (VEN)
- Rodolpho Toski (BRA)
- Bram Van Driessche (BEL)
- Armando Villarreal (USA)
