Referee Ismail Elfath officiated the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina. In this interview with Dutch Referee Blog he talks about his retirement and he shares his experiences from the tournament. Plus he has great insights that you can apply too on how to better prepare for your games and which attitude helps you develop as a referee (team). Later this month he also shares game management tips, so stay tuned! Retiring from refereeing In October Ismail Elfath retired as an active referee, only a couple of months after his World Cup semi-final. Congratulations on your career first, but what made you decide to stop refereeing? Ismail Elfath: “Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me. These types of sessions are near and dear to my heart because I have sat in the seats of referees that are hungry to grow and come up. I’ve always appreciated the chance to see content like this, which is hard to come by.” The US top level referee decided to quit mid-September. He officiated 4 games in the 2026 World Cup, finishing his tournament with the semi-final between Argentina and England. “It’s a decision I’ve been thinking about for a while with my wife.” It came down to a few things: “Number one, I wanted to spend more time with my children because refereeing at the highest level is quite demanding in terms of travel and being away from home, especially in the US. Because all our matches mean that you’re gone for three days.” “Second reason, and equally as important, is I feel like I have achieved what I set myself out to achieve when I started. And I’m pretty pleased with that. But to continue at that level and continue to reach higher, even higher goals, I would have to put my body and my commitment through things that I don’t think I can offer anymore.” “So why not retire while you are in a good, respectful place versus waiting too long. So those are pretty much the main drivers.” At the moment Ismail Elfath doesn’t have big referee plans. The announcement of his retirement is very recent. “But I do know that I cannot live without refereeing. I will be involved one way or the other, whether it’s occasional, part-time or full-time. But I know that I cannot live without refereeing. It has given me a lot and I’ll be looking forward to giving back.” Back to his World Cup experiences Officiating a World Cup final would have been nice, but Elfath knows such an appointment is very complicated and not guaranteed. “My decision might have been different if the semi-final was a regular semi-final, but Argentina and England for us was bigger than the final. And we were pretty pleased to be trusted with that match. And I think I could be happy walking away with that as my last World Cup international match.” How the games are appointed During a tournament a referee always wonders a bit about the games you can officiate or which teams you can’t. That might have to do with confederations or previous games. For example, Ismail Elfath was born in Morocco before moving to Austin, Texas in the US. So if Morocco had made it through the semi-finals it would have been tough. “Like in Qatar 2022, as they kept advancing, my chances were dwindling. So yeah, you speculate. But between myself and my team, when we saw that possible match between Argentina and England, we said, wow, that would be an amazing match for any referee.” And some referees or styles of officiating work well in certain types of games. “Just looking back at our previous FIFA tournaments, we’ve been trusted with similar matches between South American teams and European teams. So we felt like we had a decent chance and our previous three matches also went very well. So we were like, maybe there’s a good chance there.” Refereeing as a team Having the same attitude and approach towards games is crucial, says Elfath. It doesn’t mean he always works in MLS with Kyle Atkins and Corey Parker, both part of the referee team in the semi-final. Because of the big league and lots of travel distances they work with other assistants as well. “Also to help them, especially if they’re newer, younger assistants. They work with experienced referees. And also for my assistants, Kyle and Corey, when there’s a young referee, they help them out, bringing some experience to them. But as it gets closer to FIFA tournaments, we start to work together more in the league. How Elfath and his team prepare physically Ismail Elfath has been working for 10 years with his assistant referees and they prepare for games in the same routine. “I usually trust them with their own routines, because I like everyone to do what’s best for their body leading up to the game. The only thing we do together is a mobility and stretch session with the team. It’s also a bonding opportunity in the morning of the game.” Tactical preparation for referees The tactical preparation is the biggest one. Elfath and his team study the team tactics and specific players. They sit down with FIFA’s tactical coach and see how teams play and how they anticipate to play in different situations. What do they do when winning, losing or when it’s a tie. Plus how they prepare set pieces and all the different scenarios that happen in a match. “What’s unique to how I prepare, and maybe other referees do the same, I prepare for every player individually. I know every player individually, what kind of tournament they had, what’s the history they had in the tournament, with their teammates, with their coach, with the other people they will play. Do they know them from their club? I try to study every player individually and have a plan already in place for every player individually so that my interactions are best suited for that player.” An example of that: “In our game from Spain and Uruguay, we knew that the camp in Uruguay was very tense, they had some challenges with their coach. That’s all public information. But for me, I study even more detail. Which player has a challenge? What type of challenge? How about each other? And I tried to take that into the field, so I would not be surprised by anything.” Prepare for different scenarios In the Brazil – Norway game, Elfath gave a yellow card to Neymar at the end of the match, when Norway was 2 – 0 in the lead. I wondered how he prepares for situations like that, when a team might get knocked out of the tournament. “Well, for that particular yellow card, we felt that the Brazilians are very frustrated, not only because of the result, but the way that Norway is playing the ball around, passing it around, while Brazil is losing 2-0 in the World Cup” Referees at the top level will prepare for what might happen and how to handle the situation then. “We felt that someone would do something. We see it coming. So we tried to be very, very close. And sure enough, when it happened, it was very clear that we had to give the yellow card. Not because of the foul, it’s because of the frustration level and we were trying to keep that down. Those things are just part of feeling the game.” The best World Cup 2026 memory “My best memory is just sharing the moment. It’s away from the big cameras with my family, with my kids and my wife and my brother. A lot of family came after the final whistle in Atlanta, after the semi-final. To me, that’s the best memory, just sharing the moment with them and something they will remember and I will remember forever.” After the final whistle in the semi-final you might have noticed Elfath kneel down. “That one was instinctive.It’s a gesture of gratitude to God for the blessings of just successfully finishing the match. I think you see some Muslim players do the same when they score goals. It’s just a way to show gratitude and humility. It was an immense pressure for three days until the final whistle. And we felt like we’ve done our duty successfully, and that’s what came to my mind.” Competitive passion to develop In previous interviews Elfath mentioned that he has a competitive drive to become a better referee. “The competitive passion is absolutely required, because it gets very hard the longer it goes. It gets very hard at home, it gets very hard competitively with your peers. The higher you go, the margins of success get smaller and smaller. So if you’re not 100% passionate and competitive, it will be difficult to find the energy to do that extra training, to do the extra video session to always be on top.” For Elfath huumility is very important. “Stay humble and always seek to improve. Whether you’ve done a World Cup or you’ve been selected as referee of the year. The next question for the next game is: what’s most important? And then you have to ask yourself, how can I be better at it?” Always seek a mentor, is the advice from Ismail Elfath. “Someone that can critically watch the game with you. And then you’re not Elfath, you’re just a referee trying to get better for the next game. I think that’s important, continuously learning.” Control the controllables It’s easy to say that you want to control the controllables, but doing so is another thing. Fitness, preparation, attitude. “In all of those things, you can you be the best in the world every given day, every given tournament, every given weekend. It is a commitment you just have to make with yourself and your team. And I have learned that you can’t do it alone. Your team has to have the same attitude, a winning attitude, and they hold themselves and you accountable to that.” “And if you have a mentor, you ask someone that you know has been to that level and you ask them for their time. I need one hour from you per month to do XYZ. It’s not an assessment. That’s different. This is an honest conversation about your development, whether on the field or on the field or your head. And that person and you always meet up and say: what can we do better? I think these are things that you have to collect around yourself, both individually but also part of your team.” That is what helped Ismail Elfath to keep going forward and develop as a referee. Tip for all readers: make sure you set realistic goals, you won’t be from the amateur leagues to a World Cup in a glimpse. And getting better in your skills on the pitch develops over time. “For me it took 10 to 15 years plus to go from A to Z.” The weakest point in your team A refereeing team has similarities with a football team. Ismail Elfath describes the fact that if one team member doesn’t have the same drive to deliver a top performance, that’s your weakest point if they are not following the same standard as you do. Kyle Atkins and Corey Parker were part of the team for a couple of smaller tournaments in Concacaf. Their 1st FIFA tournament together was the u20 World Cup in Poland in 2019. “Before that we sat down and had the conversation that we’re not going to participate. We are going to be the best. We’re not the American referees. We’re going to be the best referees that will show up to that tournament.” That is shown in “they way you train, the way you carry yourself at the tournament, the way you prepare”, Elfath says. “And also the respect you give yourself. I’m going to go...
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