France vs. Morocco referee: Who are match officials and VAR for World Cup quarterfinal?
France vs. Morocco referee: Who are match officials and VAR for World Cup quarterfinal? originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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There has been no shortage of narratives as the 2026 FIFA World Cup steams into later stages of the tournament, and the quarterfinals are no exception.
The first match of the last eight between France and Morocco was caught up in a referee controversy before a ball was even kicked as FIFA’s assignment drew criticism.
With Les Bleus one of the main contenders for the trophyremaining in the competition field, fans were furious that FIFA appointed a referee hailing from the same country as one of their chief competitors for the title.
The Sporting News details the referee crew for the quarterfinal match on July 9, why the assignment is controversial, and why the perceived favoritism is ludicrous.
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France vs. Morocco referee: Match officials and VAR
The following officials will oversee the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal between France and Morocco.
This is the first 2026 World Cup match where all on-field referees and the head VAR are all compatriots, but it is routinely common that multiple members of the same officiating crew from the same country are assigned to work together to ease communication as much as possible.
- Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)
- Assistant referees: Juan Pablo Belatti (Argentina), Gabriel Chade (Argentina)
- 4th official: Dario Herrera (Argentina)
- Reserve AR: Cristian Navarro (Argentina)
- VAR: Hernan Mastrangelo (Argentina)
- Assistant VARs: Leodan Gonzalez (Uruguay), Tatiana Guzman (Nicaragua)
Who is referee Facundo Tello?
Argentine Facundo Tello is one of South America’s most experienced referees.
The 44-year-old has been officiating in the top flight of Argentine football since 2013. The 2026 World Cup is his second appearance at the global competition: he has been FIFA certified since 2019 and oversaw three matches at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Tello has also refereed multiple Superclasico matches — games between fierce Argentinian rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate — including the 2022 Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional in which he brandished 10 red cards during the match.
Tello refereed two matches at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States and officiated two games in the group stage of the 2026 World Cup — Canada’s 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Group B, and South Africa’s 1-0 victory over South Korea in Group A.
Why is the France vs. Morocco referee crew controversial?
Some media and fans online have begun to circulate a supposed conspiracy theory that FIFA has attempted to rig the France vs. Morocco match against Deschamps’ side due to the nearly all-Argentine nature of the refereeing team.
The supposed train of thought is that Argentine officials would be biased against France since Les Bleus are the main rival to Argentina for the 2026 World Cup title.
This is, of course, absurd. Referees are trained early on to put aside their innate biases while officiating, and FIFA already has regulations in play to prevent the most basic of biases on the pitch. FIFA mandates that all World Cup referee assignments must come from confederations other than the two participants. For example, a South American referee crew was assigned to take charge of the match between France (European/UEFA) and Morocco (African/CAF).
Additionally, this lazy conspiracy theory conveniently overlooks the fact that an almost entirely French referee crew led by on-pitch official Francois Letexier was in charge of Argentina’s controversial comeback against Egypt, with the perception that he heavily favored Argentina in the match.
Letexier was forced to deactivate his Instagram account after receiving online abuse for his officiating. VAR recommended disallowing an Egypt goal that would have made it 3-0 at the time due to a foul much earlier in the build-up, while no such intervention was used to give a foul on Mohamed Salah that would have not only negated one of Argentina’s late goals but also given Egypt a penalty.
FIFA head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina said after the match that the major controversial decisions were correct.
