Scotland vs Haiti referee confirmed as 12-year Fifa veteran to take charge of World Cup clash
African official appointed for Scotland’s opening World Cup match at Boston Stadium
FIFA have confirmed that Algerian official Mustapha Ghorbal will be the referee for Scotland’s opening match of the World Cup against Haiti.
The 40-year-old will be joined by by countrymen Mokrane Gourari and Abbes Akram Zerhouni as the two assistant referees. The fourth official will be Alejandro Hernandez of Spain and the Video Assistan Referee (VAR) will also be a Spaniard in Jose Enrique Naranjo.
Ghorbal returns to the World Cup having refereed two Group Stage matches at the 2022 edition of the tournament in Qatar. He took charge of Netherlands vs Ecuador and Australia vs Denmark and served as fourth official for two further fixtures at the Round of 16 clash between Japan and Croatia and then the quarter-final between Croatia and Brazil.
Since then he has been a regular at the last two Africa Cup of Nations in 2023 and 2025 and also featured prominently at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. During that competition in the United States he either took charge or served as the fourth official for matches involving Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain among others.
Ghorbal has been a FIFA international referee since 2014. He began his career in the Algerian First Division back in 2011.
Meanwhile, the referee for the other Group C match between Morocco and Brazil has also been confirmed. An all Slovenian team will see 46-year old Slavko Vinčić as the man in charge, assisted by Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic.
His name may be familiar to Rangers fans as he was the referee for their 2022 UEFA Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt. Two years later he took charge of the 2024 UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
The fourth official for the Morocco vs Brazil match will be Sandro Schaerer of Switzerland. The VAR for that match will also be from Switzerland and will be Stephane de Almeida.
Morocco vs Brazil will be played immediately before the Scotland vs Haiti match at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. It is due to kick off at 11pm UK time on Saturday, June 13 with Scotland vs Haiti from Boston directly after at 2am on Sunday morning.
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