Faghani to referee England vs Mexico after France penalty controversy at World Cup 2026

Alireza Faghani will referee England’s World Cup 2026 last-16 tie against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium on Monday 6 July, FIFA has confirmed. The 48-year-old Australian official is officiating in his third FIFA World Cup this summer.

Faghani was born in Iran but migrated to Australia in 2019 and has refereed under the Australian flag since 2023. He arrives at the assignment having already attracted attention this tournament after opting not to award France a penalty in their opening group game against Senegal, despite a VAR review showing contact on Kylian Mbappé. He also took charge of the goalless draw between Colombia and Portugal.

His World Cup experience is extensive. At Russia 2018 he handled four matches, including France’s 4-3 victory over Argentina in the last-16 — widely regarded as one of the greatest World Cup knockout games — as well as England’s third-place play-off defeat to Belgium and Mexico’s 1-0 win over Germany. He took charge of two group-stage matches at Qatar 2022.

Beyond the World Cup, Faghani’s career highlights include refereeing the men’s football gold medal match at the 2016 Olympics and last year’s Club World Cup final between Chelsea and PSG.

The full officiating team for England vs Mexico is as follows:

Referee: Alireza Faghani (Australia)

Assistant Referees: George Lakrindis and Andrew Lindsay (both Australia)

Fourth Official: Jalal Jayed (Morocco)

Reserve Assistant Referee: Zakaria Brinsi (Morocco)

Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Gallo (Colombia)

Assistant VAR 1: Juan Lara (Chile)

Assistant VAR 2: Juan Soto (Venezuela)

Kick-off at the Azteca Stadium is at 1am BST on Monday 6 July.