Italy will not participate in the 2026 World Cup, hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, but the country will still be represented on the field. FIFA announced on Wednesday the list of 52 referees selected for the tournament, with an Italian among them: Maurizio Mariani, from Aprilia, an international referee since 2019 and promoted to the UEFA Elite status this year.
Mariani will not be the only Italian representative. Marco Di Bello has been selected among the 30 VAR operators, while Daniele Bindoni and Alberto Tegoni have been chosen as assistant referees. It’s a strong Italian delegation, despite the absence of the National Team.
The 52 referees will gather in Miami starting from May 31 for a ten-day seminar. This will be an opportunity to prepare for the new measures approved by IFAB last February, including rules to accelerate the pace of the game and modifications to the VAR protocol, which will be implemented for the first time at this World Cup.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s chief referee, expressed confidence: “The selected officials are the best in the world. They were part of a larger group of identified and monitored referees over the past three years. Each of them must be ready to be appointed for a match and actively contribute to the success of refereeing during this World Cup.”
Collina also mentioned the planned technological innovations: “Technology will play a fundamental role. For the first time in the history of the World Cup, fans will be able to see the actions from the referee’s perspective on the field thanks to new technologies.”
Among the other selected names are Anthony Taylor, Clément Turpin, François Letexier, Szymon Marciniak, and Danny Makkelie.
