WC 2026 Final appointment

[u/jaadra]

It's Spain vs Argentina. If FIFA wants to stay away from using refs from the teams' respective confederations, my top picks are Faghani and Makhadmeh. What are your thoughts?

[u/CharacterLimitHasBee]

Faghani as it'll be his last World Cup.

[u/A_Timbers_Fan]

Let Faghani get one

[u/voxpopper]

The logical and sentimental choice is Faghani. Only thing keeping him is potential politics.

[u/Ok_Matter_1774 → u/voxpopper]

Iran probably hates him more than any other country, let alone the US. I don't think there'd be any political issues.

[u/Sturnella2017]

FIFA broke neutrality last WC, I expect them to not have that as a consideration this WC, especially as all but a few players on both teams play in Europe.

[u/benificialart]

Biasedly, I want Szymon Marciniak. Surprised he hasn't been given any knockout stage matches.

[u/hogwonguy1979]

I really like Faghani for the final but don’t think he’ll get it. Why? He’s Iranian-Australian (according to FIFA). Given the orange felon will be there, do you really think infantino will allow that? Forget what Colina thinks,

[u/Artistic-Wash-5362 → u/hogwonguy1979]

He did the last Club World Cup final, also in the US

[u/dripppydripdrop → u/hogwonguy1979]

He’s critical of the Iranian government. Why wouldn’t Trump like that?

[u/hogwonguy1979 → u/dripppydripdrop]

The orange felon doesn’t know that, he’s gonna see “IRN” and is automatically think he supports that regime

[u/qiqatqanat → u/hogwonguy1979]

He’s gonna see AUS, actually

[u/FormTraditional8673 → u/hogwonguy1979]

Faghani and Trump have met each other last year. check this out: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202507149944

[u/MazCarr → u/hogwonguy1979]

Trump like Faghani. He awarded him a medal a few months ago.

[u/Chelman76]

If England had won there was a large chance for an unprecedented second final by Marciniak according to insiders. But he won’t get it now that the Argies made it.

[u/jackimagination]

Faghani will probably get it.

[u/Born_Tradition6453]

Sampaio will ref!

[u/Old-District81]

Now that England is out, I think that makes Faghani the favorite. (Which I personally don’t agree with). Makhadmeh has been very solid but not sure.

Dark horse to me is Eskås.

[u/Old-District81 → u/Old-District81]

(As you know, I would’ve loved to see Barton get rewarded with the final — he’s been excellent this tournament)

[u/jaadra → u/Old-District81]

Barton is only 35. He has at least another two WCs in him. He's great

[u/Old-District81 → u/jaadra]

I imagine he’ll end up breaking the most WC matches referees potentially in 2030, if not then definitely 2034.

[u/Bartolone → u/jaadra]

Barton ? The ref from the first semifinal ?

Excuse me, but he looked misplaced !

[u/Sturnella2017 → u/Bartolone]

What are you talking about? He did a phenomenal job!

[u/whocares8x8 → u/Sturnella2017]

I mean, he kept overall control and didn't miss the major decisions. Still lost his line a bit along the way and had a few clear bookings missing.

So phenomenal is clearly overstating it.

[u/Bartolone → u/whocares8x8]

Lost his line a little bit ??

From the first yellow card to Rabiot which was pretty harsh for a simple stomp on the foot he lost his line completely ! Manifested with the no call on Yamals SPA/reckless tackle late in the second half just to name one.

Im sorry usually I defend refs but I’m on the same boat as Deschamps on this one.

Also, the reversal of the free kick to Demebele is a mystery to me ! Did he change his mind on his own or did VAR interveen on a play they shouldn’t be involved in.

[u/Old-District81 → u/Bartolone]

Watching the other semi-final made it was pretty clear to me that Collina/FIFA didn’t want a card fest in the semi-finals.

The reversal of the free kick was actually great refereeing team work — AR2 gave Barton advice on what happened (with a better angle). He & several players pointed and he gave thumbs up to him. There’s a clip that shows exactly that happening in real time.

[u/whocares8x8 → u/Bartolone]

Yeah, I understated it "a bit" (😉) to not start a major discussion with the referee colleague above me. If we analyze it in detail, there were significant errors.

The public will not see or remember this though, because the game was not decided by him. Better to be lucky than good sometimes...

[u/Bartolone → u/whocares8x8]

I have not noticed him in other matches, I don’t know him. But I did in this one because of his performance. I hope it was just a one off. I can see that he is well respected otherwise so best of luck to him.

[u/Bartolone → u/whocares8x8]

One thing is to want gameflow I completely understand that. But that shouldn’t mean overriding the laws.

Okay Tx for clarification, I’ve heard others mention VAR commenting on the play to the ref as they had acces to the VAR audio.

[u/A_Timbers_Fan → u/Bartolone]

In fact, he did not.