2026 World Cup: FIFA confirms referee for England vs Argentina semi-final

FIFA has confirmed that Ismail Elfath will be the referee in charge of the 2026 World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina.

The American official has already refereed three games at the tournament.

Elfath most recently took charge of Norway’s World Cup last 16 win over Brazil.

In that game, he was at the centre of two contentious penalty calls for Brazil. He did not give a Kristoffer Ajer trip on Matheus Cunha, which was later given by VAR. Bruno Guimaraes then missed the resulting spot kick.

Then in added time, Elfath gave a penalty for Leo Ostigard’s apparent elbow on Casemiro, which Neymar scored a late consolation from.

His other two games were Netherlands’ 2-2 draw in Japan in the first round of group games, and Spain’s 1-0 win over Uruguay.

In the latter game, Elfath sent of Uruguay’s Augustin Canobbio for serious foul play in a very high-tempered match.