Argentine and English referees both sent home as World Cup semi-finals loom

All Argentine and English referees have been sent home from the 2026 World Cup, with FIFA’s neutrality and geopolitical policies ruling out both nations’ officiating delegations from the semi-finals and final.

Argentine main referees Facundo Tello, Yael Falcon Perez and Dario Herrera have been stood down, along with their entire support team. Assistant referees Juan Pablo Belatti, Gabriel Chade, Maximiliano Del Yesso, Facundo Rodríguez and Cristian Navarro, as well as video assistant referee Hernan Mastrangelo, have all been dismissed from the tournament.

FIFA enforces strict competitive impartiality rules that bar referees from officiating any match involving their home nation. Because Argentina has reached the semi-finals, those rules disqualify the Argentine trio not only from the Argentina–England tie but also from the other semi-final and the final, under what FIFA terms the ‘direct next-round consequence’ rule.

Mirroring the situation on the South American side, Premier League referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have also had their tournaments brought to an end. England’s progression to the last four triggered the same neutrality guidelines, removing both officials from all remaining fixtures.

The geopolitical dimension adds a further layer of complexity. FIFA’s policies explicitly prohibit Argentine referees from overseeing any match involving England — and vice versa — a restriction rooted in the long-standing sensitivities surrounding the 1982 Falklands War. This means that even if England were eliminated by Argentina in the semi-final, Oliver and Taylor would still be ineligible to referee the final, and the Argentine delegation would equally be barred from any match the Three Lions appeared in.

The departures leave FIFA’s referee selection panel with a significantly reduced pool of officials for the tournament’s closing stages, with neutrality requirements now shaping the appointments for both semi-finals and the final.