FIFA has announced the 2018 FIFA World Cup 36-man referees and assistant referees list which include 2 referees from pro panel . FIFA are also pushing for video assistant referees (VARs) to be part of 2018 World Cup but that will be decided in March 2018 which needs approval from the The International Football Association Board (The IFAB). Referees in the world cup final list comes from all parts of the world, UEFA has 10 names, while CONMEBOL and CONCACAF has 6 officials each. Below is the full list of match officials announced so far.
FIFA has announced the list of 36 match officials heading to Russia for 2018 World Cup which takes place in June-July 2018. This world might become the first in history to use video refereeing and FIFA are pushing hard to make VAR available for world cup and all preparations are done and subject to approval from IFAB in March 2018.
Here some of the major rules ahead of how the referees will be selected for specific games.
- The 36 man list announced by FIFA is the final and there won’t be any changes unless some of the official fail fitness test and they will be replaced by reserved officials.
- Video referee assistance will be announced from the 36-man list in March 2018 after approval from IFAB.
- No referee can official match of his national team
- Referees and other officials will be selected max 3 days before the match.
- Referee for the final match will be announced after the semifinals.
Video Assistant Referees (VARs): Every match will have 1 main referee, 2 assistants and possibly 1 video assistant referee (VAR). FIFA will announce the names of referees from this 36 man list who will be acting as video assistant referees (VAR).
| NO# | Match Officials (Confirmed) | FEDERATION |
| 1 |  Felix BRYCH |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 2 |  Cüneyt CAKIR |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 3 |  Sergey KARASEV |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 4 |  Bjorn KUIPERS |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 5 |  Szymon MARCINIAK |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 6 |  Antonio Miguel MATEU LAHOZ |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 7 |  Milorad MAZIC |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 8 |  Gianluca ROCCHI |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 9 |  Damir SKOMINA |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 10 |  Clement TURPIN |
UEFA (Elite Panel) |
| 11 |  Julio BASCUÑAN |
CONMEBOL |
| 12 |  Enrique CACERES |
CONMEBOL |
| 13 |  Andres CUNHA |
CONMEBOL |
| 14 |  Nestor PITANA |
CONMEBOL |
| 15 |  Sandro RICCI |
CONMEBOL |
| 16 |  Wilmar ROLDAN |
CONMEBOL |
| 17 |  Joel AGUILAR |
CONCACAF |
| 18 |  Mark W. GEIGER |
CONCACAF |
| 19 | Jair MARRUFO |
CONCACAF |
| 20 |  Ricardo MONTERO |
CONCACAF |
| 21 |  John PITTI |
CONCACAF |
| 22 |  Cesar Arturo RAMOS PALAZUELOS |
CONCACAF |
| 23 |  Fahad AL MIRDASI |
AFC |
| 24 |  Alireza FAGHANI |
AFC |
| 25 |  Ravshan IRMATOV |
AFC |
| 26 |  Mohammed Abdulla MOHAMED |
AFC |
| 27 |  Ryuji SATO |
AFC |
| 28 |  Nawaf Abdulla SHUKRALLA |
AFC |
| 29 |  Mehdi ABID CHAREF |
CAF |
| 30 |  Malang DIEDHIOU |
CAF |
| 31 |  Bakary Papa GASSAMA |
CAF |
| 32 |  Ghead GRISHA |
CAF |
| 33 |  Janny SIKAZWE |
CAF |
| 34 |  Weyesa Bamlak TESSEMA |
CAF |
| 35 |  Matthew CONGER |
OFC |
| 36 | Norbert HAUATA |
OFC |
