FIFA announced on 9/4 its list of 170 officials for the 2026 World Cup, which includes 52 main referees, 88 assistant referees, and 30 video assistant referees (VAR). The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) contributes 25 referees to this roster, comprising 8 main referees, 12 assistant referees, and 5 VARs. The 8 main referees from the AFC are Abdulrahman Al Jassim (Qatar), Khalid Al Turais (Saudi Arabia), Yusuke Araki (Japan), Alireza Faghani (Australia), Ma Ning (China), Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan), Omar Al Ali (UAE), and Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan). Within Asia, only Southeast Asia and South Asia are absent from this selection.

Former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina speaks at the 74th FIFA Congress at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand on 17/5/2024. Photo: Reuters

This absence marks a significant step backward for Southeast Asia. In contrast, the region had one representative at the 2022 World Cup, Muhammad Taqi from Singapore, who served as a VAR. Taqi was the fifth Singaporean referee to officiate at a World Cup, following George Suppiah (1974), Shamsul Maidin (2006), K. Visvanathan (2002), and Jeffrey Goh (2010). He was also the sole Southeast Asian referee selected for the World Cup since 2010, as no referees from the region were included in the 2014, 2018, and now 2026 tournaments.

Malaysian media expressed disappointment over the exclusion of referee Nazmi Nasaruddin from the list. Nazmi was previously a candidate and attended FIFA training courses but was ultimately not selected. As a result, Malaysia's only World Cup referee remains Subkhiddin Salleh, who officiated in South Africa in 2010. Similarly, ThaiRath reported that referee Sivakorn Pu-udom, a trusted official in many AFC tournaments, was also not named for the 2026 World Cup. Thailand's last World Cup representative was Prachya Permpanich, who served as an assistant referee in 2006. Vietnam has never had a referee officiate at a World Cup.

Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, explained that the selected officials are the world's best, chosen after a rigorous three-year evaluation. These referees were part of a group monitored and trained by FIFA through various workshops and direct officiating at tournaments managed by the organization. Collina emphasized that their performance was continuously verified through domestic and international matches before the final selection. The 2026 World Cup will be the largest in history, featuring 48 teams and 104 matches, a substantial increase from 32 teams and 64 matches at the 2022 World Cup. The referee list also includes 6 women, continuing a trend established at the previous tournament in Qatar.