They number 117 and have travelled from 41 different countries. But what is expected from the Club World Cup’s match officials now they have assembled in the United States?
It feels like a step into new territory. FIFA, the tournament organiser, has introduced innovations it predicts will “enhance fan experience, transparency and operations” and at the heart of those will be all those referees, assistants and VARs picked from around the globe.
The last 10 days have been spent fine-tuning an understanding of new rules and roles. Here, The Athletic assesses how life will change for match officials at the Club World Cup, and what impact it will have on players and fans.
Eight-second rule for goalkeepers
Time wasting has become an increasing bugbear of football’s key stakeholders. Back in March, the game’s rule maker, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), approved a significant change designed as a clampdown. An amendment to Law 12.2 will see goalkeepers given eight seconds to release the ball from their hands or be punished with a corner being awarded to the opposing team.
The Club World Cup, along with the European Under-21 Championship being played in Slovakia, will see that formally put into practice, with referees counting down from eight and raising an arm to indicate when there are five seconds left for the goalkeeper to act. Any attacker found to be obstructing the goalkeeper, though, will have an indirect free kick awarded against them.
“In many leagues, the goalkeeper can tend to keep the ball in his hands for 20 or even 25 seconds, which is a huge amount of time during a match,” Pierluigi Collina, the head of FIFA’s referees committee and a celebrated former official, told reporters on Wednesday. “There is nothing entertaining in this.”
Goalkeepers will only be allowed to hold the ball for eight seconds (John Thys/AFP via Getty Images)
The previous version of the rule allowed goalkeepers six seconds before an indirect free kick was awarded, but that law had increasingly become unenforced within the professional game.
The new eight-second rule will come into place at all levels of the game from July 1 and follows a trial period at this year’s Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, the South American equivalents to UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League.
Collina attempted to quell concerns that the alternative rule would lead to a spike in corners at the Club World Cup. The Italian said that in the 160 trial matches played in South America, only two goalkeepers were punished.
This is the latest step in FIFA’s attempts to tackle time-wasting and do not be surprised to see games at the Club World Cup follow Qatar 2022 with ample minutes added. “Time lost will be compensated,” said Collina.
‘Ref cam’ is here
Match officials will have to think differently over the coming weeks but their appearance is also going to look a little out of the ordinary.
Attached to the earpiece and microphone already worn for communication purposes, there will be a tiny camera capturing a “ref’s-eye” view of the action at each Club World Cup game.
FIFA, with the blessing of IFAB, stresses this is only a trial but the motivation is primarily to “offer TV viewers a new experience” during matches. The camera feed’s footage will be transmitted via a private 5G connection to production teams, who will be able to then show replays of key moments. Only the six NFL stadiums being used at the Club World Cup, though, have the technological capabilities to use footage live, such as at the coin toss.
“During the match, there might be an occasion to show the play from a very unique perspective, the referee’s eyes,” said Collina.
A headset similar to the one that will be worn by officials at the Club World Cup (Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images)
There will be limits to what is shown. Any incidents captured by the referee’s camera considered controversial, such as penalty decisions or red cards, will not be approved for broadcast.
“This is a trial,” added Collina. “We need to do something new — and the simpler the better. So we fixed some rules within a protocol. Will we offer these images in the future? Maybe when we learn to run, maybe not, maybe we will do.”
That is not the only technology advancement directly impacting the officials at the Club World Cup. Video assistant referee (VAR) footage shown to the referee during a game at the monitor will be broadcast simultaneously to the stadium crowd over the big screen, before a final decision is relayed over the public address system.
And forget those fiddly bits of paper exchanged every time a team wants to make a substitution. FIFA has introduced substitute tablets given to each bench, with changes punched into that and shared with the fourth official and broadcast teams.
Advanced technology
There is no going back on the VAR system in football, but Collina accepted this week it has led to problems that FIFA will attempt to address, using more technology, at the Club World Cup.
“Since the very beginning (of the VAR system), on-pitch assistant referees have been told in case of doubt, keep the flag down,” he said. “It went a bit far. The doubt became bigger and bigger.
“We worked on this because we were aware that the decision to keep the flag down, which is part of how VAR works, may lead to some consequences.”
A grave example was the injury suffered by Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi, who had to be placed in an induced coma in April when an offside decision was not flagged and play allowed to continue.
Semi-automated offside technology has been around since 2022 as a support tool for assistants, but FIFA’s advanced system, previously trialled at the Intercontinental Cup in December, provides “real-time alerts to match officials in the event of clear offsides”.
An audio signal will be sent to the assistants informing them that an offside flag can be raised but FIFA stresses this is not diminishing the touchline role. What it considers “challenging offside scenarios” will still need the VAR to clear the decision.
Referees appointed for Club World Cup 2025
Michael Oliver (England)
Anthony Taylor (England)
Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
Omar Al Ali (UAE)
Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
Dahane Beida (Mauritania)
Juan Gabriel Benitez (Paraguay)
Espen Eskas (Norway)
Alireza Faghani (Australia)
Salman Falahi (Qatar)
Yael Falcon Perez (Argentina)
Drew Fischer (Canada)
Cristian Garay (Chile)
Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
Mutaz Ibrahim (Libya)
Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)
Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Francois Letexier (France)
Ning Ma (China)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Said Martinez (Honduras)
Jean Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)
Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Tori Penso (U.S.)
Cesar Ramos (Mexico)
Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
Issa Sy (Senegal)
Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)
Gustavo Tejera (Uruguay)
Facundo Tello (Argentina)
Clement Turpin (France)
Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)
Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
Felix Zwayer (Germany)
(Top photo: Anthony Taylor; Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
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2025-06-13 11:30:21