Portuguese match officials will referee the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-final between Argentina and Switzerland. The match will take place on Saturday, July 11, at 9pm EDT in Kansas City Stadium.
FIFA announced this decision in a post on X on Thursday.
Joao Pinheiro from Portugal will be the centre referee for the game.
He will be joined by two fellow countrymen, Bruno Jesus and Luciano Maia, who will be Assistant Referee 1 and Assistant Referee 2.
Drew Fischer from Canada will be the fourth official for the match. His fellow Canadian, Micheal Barwegen, will be the reserve assistant referee.
FIFA usually picks officials from countries not playing in a match for the tournament. They have not assigned any referee to a match involving their own country during the group or knockout stages.
Earlier, FIFA appointed an all-Argentine team of officials for the quarter-final match between France and Morocco. This decision got reactions from football fans, who raised concerns since Argentina was still in the tournament and could face either France or Morocco later.
PUNCH found that FIFA’s rules allow officials from countries still in the competition to officiate matches, as long as they are not involved in games with their national teams.
FIFA said this rule has been followed consistently from the group stage to the knockout rounds since the tournament began in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Argentina and Switzerland will fight for a spot in the semi-finals. The winner will go on to play against whoever wins in the other quarter-final matches.
Drop your comment
No comments yet — be the first to drop the gist 👇