France vs Morocco: 5 officials from the same country, a first at the 2026 World Cup

09.07.26 FT World Cup

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The first quarter-final of the World Cup pits Morocco against France this Thursday, July 9, 2026, at 8 p.m. GMT at the Boston stadium.

This match will be unique, as it will be officiated by a refereeing team entirely from the same country. No other game in the tournament has experienced such an occurrence.

FIFA has appointed Facundo Tello to ensure the smooth running of this encounter, assisted by a 100% Argentinian refereeing crew. He will have Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade as his assistants on the touchline. Dario Herrera will be the fourth official, while Cristian Navarro serves as reserve assistant referee.

A FIFA referee since 2019, Facundo Tello has already officiated five matches in the World Cup finals. He took charge of Switzerland vs Cameroon (1-0), South Korea vs Portugal (2-1), and Morocco vs Portugal (1-0) in 2022.

In this edition, he has refereed two group stage games: Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1) and South Africa vs South Korea (1-0).

Imed Ben Amara |

Editorar, fr

Imed Ben Amara - bilingual sports writer and web editor with experience in football content creation. Since 2021, he has contributed to Foot Africa, providing news coverage and analysis.

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