What it takes to be chosen as a World Cup referee – and how to ref the final
By Reagan Yip, CNN
(CNN) — As 48 nations battle for World Cup glory, another group has endured a similarly grueling path to soccer’s biggest stage: the referees.
This year, 52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 video assistant referees (VARs) have been selected. The 170-strong contingent is the largest in World Cup history, with the expanded format now featuring a record 48 teams and 104 matches.
The officials come from 50 FIFA member nations across all continental confederations, with eight representing the United States. Among them are also six women, following FIFA’s historic move to include female referees at the last edition in Qatar.
It’s a role that has been unexpectedly thrust into the limelight. A Somali referee slated for the showpiece was denied entry to the US due to “vetting concerns.” A record three red cards were brandished in the opening game. In China, fans are rallying behind one referee as the country’s sole representative after the national team failed to qualify.
“It was my first World Cup game – and South Korea’s first World Cup game ever (at home), too. We had 50,000 spectators all in red jerseys. The noise was incredible,” Leif Lindberg, one of the two assistant referees at the 2002 final between Brazil and Germany, tells CNN Sports of his World Cup debut on June 4, 2002.
“Every one of us was dreaming about officiating the World Cup.”
But turning that aspiration into reality demands more than intense training and an unblemished on-field record. For many, juggling match duties alongside a full-time job comes at a heavy personal cost.
“Most referees have been through at least one divorce,” says Lindberg, who is retired and on his second marriage. “Many sacrifice family life in one way or another.”
How referees are picked
The selection process for this World Cup began immediately after Qatar 2022, according to FIFA.
Candidates were required to attend seminars, undergo fitness tests and have prior FIFA tournament experience. Their performances in domestic and international competitions were also monitored over the past three years, before a committee finalized the lineup.
“In every important match ahead of the World Cup, we have one or two observers,” former assistant referee Renato Faverani explains to CNN Sports, adding referees at the elite level are assigned to the same officiating teams across international games and assessed as a group.
“Afterwards, you receive an evaluation, which is then compared with other referee teams,” says the Italian, who worked four matches at the 2014 World Cup, including the final between Germany and Argentina.
Even being considered is no small feat, since only those active in top-level fixtures are in contention. Before earning his appointment, for example, Faverani had built an extensive resume across the UEFA Champions League (even officiating the 2013 final), the European Championship and Serie A, among others.
Once chosen for a World Cup – as the tournament progresses – referees are appointed three to four days before each game, based on their form. FIFA also bars officials from taking charge of matches involving their own country to avoid conflicts of interest, leaving no predetermined list of candidates for the knockout stage.
“It was a very special moment to follow our national team and hope they would lose,” Sweden’s Lindberg recalls. “If they reached the semifinals, I would have had to go home.”
“Sweden went out in the round of 16 in very unlucky circumstances, but it was very lucky for me.”
The call-up to the final
So, how do referees find out they have been named for the grand finale?
Being tapped for soccer’s ultimate match is an overwhelming surge of emotion.
Returning from a practice session near his hotel, Faverani found all the referees assembled and seated inside a huge hall. Then FIFA President Sepp Blatter stood at the front, unfurled a sheet of paper, and began reading from it.
“The referees for the World Cup final are: Mr…” Blatter uttered. Seconds of suspense passed before Faverani’s name was announced. Prominent figures and colleagues — including England’s Howard Webb, referee of the 2010 final in South Africa — walked over to congratulate him.
“For two or three hours, it was the best moment,” Faverani says.
“Then, the pressure and responsibility arrived. You just hope the match comes quickly because the pressure is very high.”
As the joy sank in, the real work got underway.
On and off the pitch
What fans often don’t realize is how the process begins days before kickoff – mastering the Laws of the Game is simply not enough. Aside from daily physical training, including long runs and gym workouts, referees attend lectures and study in detail the teams they are due to officiate.
“It is vital to understand a team’s defensive tactics and players’ characteristics,” Faverani says. The Italian reviewed hours of footage from previous matches involving the squads he was due to ref and consulted colleagues who had already officiated them, seeking advice and aiming to avoid repeating past mistakes.
Some of the primary responsibilities of an assistant referee are to judge offside decisions and signal fouls and misconduct. Knowing which players are prone to confrontations and sharp exchanges helped Faverani maintain composure, even with a “little smile,” when tempers flared.
A decisive 2013 World Cup playoff match between Portugal and Sweden — featuring two iconic forwards, Cristiano Ronaldo and the now retired Zlatan Ibrahimović — offered one such test. Both players are renowned for their unyielding characters and distinctive playing styles.
Faverani was assistant referee that night. Gaining familiarity with attacking patterns and defensive lines, he says, helped him anticipate play before it unfolded.
And despite their proximity to the biggest stars, referees remain detached from reputation and stay focused on the match. “When the whistle blows, it’s just 11 against 11, no more,” he adds.
For all the controversy over Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, it was only introduced in 2018. Before that, all offenses were judged in real time, by the naked eye — a standard that largely still holds today, albeit with the possibility of review. Sometimes, those calls could prove pivotal.
One “very difficult” decision from the 2014 final still lingers with him. The goalless first half was ticking towards its close under the sunlit glare of Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium. Both sides were still locked in a tense search for a breakthrough, and Germany got a corner.
The delivery was swung into Argentina’s crowded penalty box, where Benedikt Höwedes rose above the pack and powered a header towards goal. It struck the post and rebounded into play, falling to Thomas Müller. But the German forward had been in an offside position amid the chaos by – according to Faverani – less than 10 centimetres (around four inches).
“I was concentrating, so I raised the flag,” he says excitedly. The “Robo Assistant Referee,” as one German newspaper quipped afterwards, turned out to be right.
The cost of three decades
Progressing from amateur leagues to the World Cup took Faverani and Lindberg about 30 years. Their journeys carried big tolls, measured in missed time with their families waiting at home.
And the statistics are stark in terms of just how arduous it is to make it. Of the 3,725 officials on FIFA’s international list, just 4.5% have made it to North America this summer, and a mere handful will be entrusted with refereeing a final. Behind them stand hundreds of thousands that never reach the global stage.
The role’s unstable nature – gigs only arise when matches are scheduled and last just a few hours – means most referees must hold regular employment.
“At the time, you had a full-time job, your games, and your training. You more or less had to make a choice, and many people chose their refereeing career over their family, paying the price later on,” Lindberg says, referring to his divorce.
He tells CNN it was solely his unique work situation that allowed him to train five days a week: “I was running my own company, so I could leave at three in the afternoon and come back home at a normal time. That was a huge benefit for me.”
The countless hours he devoted to staying match-fit underscores another challenge: an aging body. Players are often 10 to 20 years younger than the referees, who must push themselves further just to keep pace with them.
“Of course, the players have to train a lot of different things, which we don’t need. But we do much more physical training than them because of age,” he adds.
It was a trade-off for Faverani, too. Refereeing at the top never replaced his office job as a credit manager; in fact, it piled more work on top of it. During the season, he flew back and forth between countries for mid-week Champions League fixtures and Serie A matches at the weekend, all the while catching up on company business via phone and email.
“It is a passion for me. But I now realize how much time I took away from my family, my wife, my daughters, my mother,” he tells CNN, visibly emotional.
Boos and abuse
Technology has reshaped the sport, putting officials’ split-second decisions under sharper scrutiny. Online abuse from frustrated fans – some of who are betting – is becoming routine.
The abuse is having an impact. Daniele Curcio, president of Referee Abroad, a non-profit promoting refereeing globally, says a breakdown in trust for referees is driving low retention among aspiring officials.
“It is something every federation in the world now has to deal with,” he tells CNN Sports. “There needs to be a cultural change.”
“Referees can be wrong, just like a player can miss a penalty. But you need to believe in them, in their moral characters.”
Despite the misconceptions and unseen hard work, it remains a rewarding role for those who endure, as Lindberg and Faverani agree.
“It’s a great job. It’s something that develops you, not just as an athelete, but as a person,” Daniele says. “It teaches you a set of lifelong soft skills that otherwise you wouldn’t know about.”
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