FIFA has announced that referees chosen for the 2026 World Cup will attend a ten-day training camp in Miami, beginning on 31 May, as preparations intensify for the tournament.
The governing body confirmed that the officiating team for the 2026 competition will be the largest in World Cup history, surpassing the number of referees and assistants selected for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. The expansion reflects both the scale of the upcoming competition and FIFA’s efforts to ensure consistency in decision-making across matches.
The training programme, known as the “FIFA Team One” camp, will bring together 170 officials for what is described as a final high-level seminar before the tournament begins. The camp is expected to play a key role in standardising refereeing approaches and ensuring all participants are aligned on technical and procedural expectations.
During the ten-day period, referees and their assistants will undertake an intensive schedule combining physical fitness sessions with practical match simulations. Organisers say the programme has been designed to test both the physical readiness and decision-making abilities of officials under conditions that mirror real match scenarios.
A significant focus of the camp will be on the use of new technologies set to feature at the tournament. Among these are body-worn cameras, which will be introduced as part of broader efforts to enhance transparency and analysis in officiating. Officials will receive hands-on training to familiarise themselves with these tools ahead of the competition.
In a move aimed at safeguarding impartiality, FIFA has also instructed selected referees to avoid officiating friendly matches involving teams that will participate in the World Cup. According to reports, this directive was communicated directly to officials via email, with the intention of preventing any potential conflicts of interest in the lead-up to the tournament.
The 2026 World Cup itself is scheduled to take place from 11 June to 19 July across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, marking the first time the competition will be hosted by three nations.
Among those selected for officiating duties are four referees from Morocco. Jalal Jayed, Mostafa Akarkad, Zakaria Brinsi, and Hamza El Fariq have all been named on the final list of international officials and will represent their country during the tournament.
Their inclusion highlights the increasingly global composition of World Cup officiating teams, as FIFA continues to draw referees from a broad range of footballing nations.
With just weeks to go before the Miami camp begins, attention is now turning to how effectively the expanded group of officials can be prepared for what is expected to be one of the most complex and closely watched World Cups in history.
