Some teams’ joy means others’ disappointment. France have reached the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup — and as a result, French referees François Letexier and Clément Turpin will not be seen officiating any further matches in the tournament.
Letexier was in charge of Egypt’s round of 16 match against Argentina. Several of his decisions in that match remain controversial. Some Egyptian players and their coach blamed the referee for the defeat and accused him of bias. FIFA, however, conducted an investigation and concluded that there was no evidence of bias in the match.
FIFA routinely excludes referees from countries whose national teams are still in the tournament to avoid any potential conflict of interest in the semi-finals, third-place match and final.
The same rule applies to referees from the other three semi-finalists — Argentina, Spain and England.
Jérôme Brisard, however, despite being French, will remain part of the refereeing panel for the remainder of the tournament. He has served exclusively as a video assistant referee since the start of the World Cup and has not been a match referee during the competition. Brisard, who was voted the best referee in Ligue 1 at the most recent UNFP Trophy ceremony, remains in contention to be appointed as a VAR official for the remaining matches.
The 13 Referees Remaining for the Rest of the World Cup
Evan Burnett (El Salvador)
Ismail Elfath (United States)
Espen Eskas (Norway)
Alireza Faghani (Australia)
Jalal Zayed (Morocco)
Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
João Pinheiro (Portugal)
Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
