*This content was translated by AI.
There was no reversal. At the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup, not a single South Korean referee will be able to be seen. Following the main and vice judges, Korean referees were not listed on the VAR list. It is the fourth consecutive tournament that Korean referees cannot enjoy the World Cup stage.
FIFA confirmed and announced 52 referees, 88 assistant referees, and 30 VARs that will be played at the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup on the 10th (Korea Standard Time). As the number of matches increased from 32 countries to 48 countries, the number of referees increased by 41 from the 2022 Qatar Games. FIFA said, "The main evaluation factors were the candidates' ability and consistency to manage the games shown in international competitions and leagues from around the world." This means that there was no Korean referee who showed competitiveness in the evaluation factor.
In fact, it was predicted early on that the World Cup failed to release the main and assistant coaches. This is because not a single Korean referee has been named as a final candidate for the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup Asian Football Confederation (AFC), African Football Federation (CAF), and Oceania Football Federation (OFC) referee seminar announced in December last year. According to Leaping World, referee Kim Jong-hyuk was listed as a preliminary candidate for 15 AFC, but he was eliminated in the process of selecting 10 AFC finalists.
The only hope left was VAR. Judge Kim Woo-sung was listed on the VAR AFC seminar list until relatively recently, but was eliminated from the VAR list finally announced by FIFA. In the end, there is no place for Korean referees in the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup, not only the main and vice judges but also VARs.
It is the fourth consecutive tournament since the 2014 Brazil World Cup that Korean referees are unable to appear on the World Cup stage. The last time a Korean referee appeared on the World Cup stage was Jung Hae-sang, deputy referee at the 2010 South African Games. Judge Kim Young-joo was the last Korean referee to be the referee of the World Cup 24 years ago during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. This part shows the poor current state of the Korean refereeing community.
While the South Korean referee is unable to play in the World Cup, Japan's referee Yusuke Araki will be the referee and U.S. referee Jun Mihara will be the assistant referee in the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup. Japan has produced as many as eight World Cup referees in a row recently, with referee Yoshimi Yamashita being the first female referee to be listed as a World Cup referee at the 2022 Qatar Games.
In China, referee Manning was selected as the referee for the second consecutive World Cup, while referee Zhou Fei headed to North and Central America, and referee Fu Ming headed to VAR. In addition, several other Asian judges, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uzbekistan, were also given the opportunity to enjoy the World Cup stage as referees or vice judges and VARs.
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*This content was translated by AI.
