…Fifty-four officials selected: 18 referees and 36 assistant referees
…Football Video Support (FVS) to be used across the competition
…Tournament to commence on 27 September and conclude on 19 October
WED JULY 23 2025-theGBJournal| Three top flight referees from Africa (CAF) has been named by FIFA, alongside fifteen others from 22 FIFA Member Associations, as match officials who will oversee games at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™, which will take place from 27 September to 19 October.
The full list, 54 match officials (18 referees and 36 assistant referees), was unveiled on Wednesday by FIFA Referees Committee.
The top flight referees from Africa are Somalian born Artan Omar Abdulkadir, Gamouh Youcef from Algeria and Jayed Jala from Morocco.
Six others from Kenya, Morocco, Benin Republic, Sao Tome and Principe and Tunisia are listed as Assistant Referees.
According to Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, ”following the success of the FIFA Club World Cup, we look forward to another exciting tournament, for which we have once again appointed a very strong Team One line-up.
From a refereeing perspective, it’s very important that the officials have the opportunity to be involved at a tournament featuring the stars of tomorrow and for us to carry out further testing of Football Video Support (FVS), which has been a great success so far.”
The use of Football Video Support (FVS) at the tournament follows on from the trials implemented last year at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ in Colombia and the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™ in the Dominican Republic.
The FVS trials followed numerous requests from member associations for an alternative, cost-effective way of using technology to support match officials.
Unlike the video assistant referee (VAR) system, FVS does not use dedicated video match officials and therefore does not check all match-changing incidents.
Instead, the onus falls on the respective head coaches, who are allowed to make a limited number of review requests per game when they feel that a clear and obvious error has been made in match-changing incidents, such as goals, penalty decisions, direct red card incidents or cases of mistaken identity. The players can also recommend that their coaches request a review.
”Chile is a football-loving country, and we have an excellent opportunity to ensure that this year’s edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup leaves a legacy on a refereeing level.
The (FIFA) U-20 World Cup is a highly competitive tournament that requires officials to have a sound reading of the game,” noted FIFA Director of Refereeing Massimo Busacca.
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