FIFA to investigate World Cup referee Shaun Evans over white supremacy gesture

FIFA are set to investigate Australian referee Shaun Evans after he appeared to make a hand gesture associated with white supremacy during a World Cup match on Sunday.

Evans, 38, was serving as ‘support VAR’ for Germany’s 7-1 Group E victory over Curacao when broadcast cameras cut to the officials in the VAR room before kick-off. In that footage, Evans appeared to make an upside-down ‘OK’ signal with his right hand resting on his thigh — a gesture that has been linked to the white power movement in far-right circles.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added the OK symbol to its list of hate symbols in 2019, noting it had become a “popular trolling tactic” from “right-leaning individuals”, though the organisation also stresses that the “overwhelming usage” of the gesture remains to signal approval or that someone is fine. “Particular care must be taken not to jump to conclusions about the intent behind someone who has used the gesture,” the ADL states. The BBC also added the symbol to its list of hate symbols that same year.

The gesture carries additional notoriety because Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant made the same sign in court following his 2019 arrest for murdering 50 people in attacks on two mosques in New Zealand. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, a man had his accreditation revoked after appearing to make the gesture twice during a women’s skateboarding final.

Anti-discrimination network Fare released a statement on Sunday calling the incident deeply concerning. “Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside-down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the organisation said. “Why is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him? It can only be that he is intentionally transmitting a far-right neo-nazi symbol.”

Evans began his officiating career as a part-time assistant referee in Australia’s A-League in 2008 while working as a bricklayer, before being promoted to referee four years later. He was added to the FIFA International Referees List in 2017.

FIFA have been contacted for comment, and Evans has been offered the right of reply through football’s global governing body. The gesture is also associated with a common playground game, and no formal findings have yet been made.