Congolese Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala will not officiate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after missing out on the final list of selected officials. Ndala, who took charge of the 2025 AFCON final, was excluded from the roster for the upcoming tournament.
According to reports by Yahoo Sports, Brazil leads the list of referee appointments, with the South American nation contributing nine officials for the competition.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19 with 48 countries competing.
Three of Brazil’s officiating entourage includes three main referees including Ramon Abatti Abel, five assistant referees and one official for VAR (Video Assistant Referee) duties.
However, Congolese referee Ndala, who officiated the 2025 AFCON Final that was marred in controversy and had Senegal stripped of the AFCON title after Morocco successfully appealed the Teranga Lions’ win on grounds of forfeiture.
Ndala’s performance in the 2025 AFCON was largely panned and has since been omitted from the list of African officials penned for this year’s World Cup.
Scroll down to view the full list of officials for the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Michael Oliver (England)
Anthony Taylor (England)
Francois Letexier (France)
Clement Turpin (France)
Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Espen Eskas (Norway)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Joao Pinheiro (Portugal)
Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Spain)
Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Sandro Schaerer (Switzerland)
Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)
Ning Ma (China)
Alireza Faghani (Australia)
Yusuke Araki (Japan)
Abdulrahman Al Jassim (Qatar)
Khalid Al Turais (Saudi Arabia)
Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)
Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
Pierre Atcho (Gabon)
Amin Mohamed (Egypt)
Jalal Jayed (Morocco)
Dahane Beida (Mauritania)
Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia)
Abongile Tom (South Africa)
Drew Fischer (Canada)
Juan Calderon (Costa Rica)
Said Martinez (Honduras)
Oshane Nation (Jamaica)
Cesar Ramos (Mexico)
Katia Garcia (Mexico)
Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
Ismail Elfath (United States)
Tori Penso (United States)
Yael Falcon Perez (Argentina)
Dario Herrera (Argentina)
Facundo Tello (Argentina)
Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
Cristian Garay (Chile)
Andres Rojas (Colombia)
Juan Gabriel Benitez (Paraguay)
Kevin Ortega (Peru)
Gustavo Tejera (Uruguay)
Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)
