Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton will be the primary official, becoming the first person from his country in charge of a World Cup semifinal. With France having Kylian Mbappe and and Spain Lamine Yamal in their lineups, this is a blockbuster matchup. But also other officials in this match are from Concacaf.

• Referee: Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
• Assistant Referee 1: David Moran (El Salvador)
• Assistant Referee 2: Antonio Pupiro (Nicaragua)
• Fourth Referee: Gleen Nyberg (Sweden)
• Fifth Referee: Mahbod Beigi (Sweden)
• VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)
• AVAR: Dennis Higler (Netherlands)

Ivan Barton in the 2026 World Cup

The 35-year-old also appeared in the 2022 World Cup, so he has quite a lot of World Cup experience. During this edition of the tournament, Barton has already officiated three games. He was in charge of group stage matches Turkiye vs Paraguay and Japan vs Sweden. He also officiated Switzerland vs Colombia in the Round of 16. Hence, he is yet to officiate either Spain or France.

Barton also had a controversial moment in the Turkiye vs Paraguay match, as he had to enforce the new “mouth-covering rule.” The rule states that if a player covers his mouth, he must receive a red card regardless of what’s said. Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron covered his mouth and was sent off by Barton.

Barton is making history in other ways too

Barton also surpassed Guatemalan Carlos Batres as the Concacaf referee with more World Cup appearances. Hence, it’s been a record-setting performance during the World Cup for the Salvadorian.

France and Spain know which uniforms they’ll use for the match, and so does Barton and the officiating crew. The teams also know Barton is a disciplinarian, so they have to be in their best behavior to avoid any suspensions for a possible final.

A gassed Honduras side could not hold on and gave up the tying goal in the 10th minute of added time, then survived to reach penalty kicks, during the spot kicks Mexico’s César Huerta missed his penalty kick attempts twice but scored on his third attempt after referee Iván Barton stated Honduras keeper Edrick Menjívar stepped off his line twice before.

As Mexico advanced 4-2 on penalty kicks the world press came down hard on Iván Barton and Honduras newspapers wrote in the morning that things were called in Mexico’s favor so they can qualify for the Copa America and continue in the Nations League.

Iván Barton’s history of strange decisions

Barton was the man in charge when he favored Mexico with a controversial penalty kick on Diego Lainez against Panama in Concacaf World Cup qualifying for Qatar 2022. The match ended 1-0 in Mexico’s favor.

Then in the Leagues Cup, Barton was criticized for not showing Lionel Messi a yellow card in a game against Orlando City, when Messi got in the face of his opponents. Barton also issued a debatable penalty kick in favor of Inter Miami.

Iván Barton’s bio

Iván Barton is only 32 years old and has been a FIFA referee since 2018, he is a Chemical Sciences major and was a as a professor of Organic Chemistry.

Barton has officiated in national team tournaments, such as the 2018 Concacaf Under-20 Championship in the United States, the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Nations League, and the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil. Barton also refereed in the first leg of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final between Seattle Sounders FC and UNAM, where he awarded three penalties.