Although FIFA decided to remove the age limits for international match officials, only 2 referees – Bjorn Kuipers (NED, 1973), Vladislav Bezborodov (RUS, 1973) – and 3 assistant referees – Konrad Sapela (POL, 1971), Cyril Gringore (FRA, 1972), Octavian Sovre (ROU, 1973) – older than 46 were accepted for 2021. There are 6 referees – Patricio Loustau (ARG, 1975), Mauro Vigliano (ARG, 1975), David Gantar (CAN, 1975), Felix Brych (GER, 1975), Daniele Orsato (ITA, 1975), Veaceslav Banari (MDA, 1975) – and 2 assistant referees – Matthew Cream (AUS, 1975), Thorsten Schiffner (GER, 1975) – who will be turning 46 this year. However, there are some older video match officials: Carlos Ayala (MEX, 1967), Juan Rangel (MEX, 1971), Dalibor Djurdjevic (SRB, 1973), Milovan Ristic (SRB, 1974), Allen Chapman (USA, 1974), Kevin Blom (NED, 1974), in addition to those who already turned 45 last year: Kim Woo Sung (KOR, 1975), Paulus Van Boekel (NED, 1975), Victor Carrillo (PER, 1975), Edvin Jurisevic (USA, 1975). While Mexican VMO Carlos Ayala (54) is the oldest, Polish AR Konrad Sapela (50, photo), is the longest serving match official on the FIFA List (since 1998).

Referees (M): Enea Jorgji (ALB, 2002), Yu Ming Hsun (TPE, 2002). Ivan Bebek (CRO, 2002), Vasilios Dimitriou (CYP, 2002), Ali Al-Qaysi (IRQ, 2002), Veaceslav Banari (MDA, 2002), Damir Skomina (SVN, 2002), Charymurat Kurbanov (TKM, 2002), Eduardo Gamboa (CHI, 2003), Zhang Lei (CHN, 2004), Ng Chiu Kok (HKG, 2004), Hettikamkanamge Perera (SRI, 2004), Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR, 2005), Ahmed Toure (GUI, 2005), Svein Moen (NOR, 2005), Victor Carrillo (PER, 2005), Juan Soto (VEN, 2005).

Referees (F): Salome Di Iorio (ARG, 2004), Katalin Kulcsar (HUN, 2004), Sandra Braz (POR, 2004), Kateryna Monzul (UKR, 2004), Estela Alvarez (ARG, 2005), Sirley Cornejo (BOL, 2005), Lidya Abebe (ETH, 2005), Vivian Peeters (NED, 2005), Tanja Subotic (SVN, 2005), Esther Staubli (SUI, 2005), Cong Thi Dung (VIE, 2005).

Assistant Referees (M): Konrad Sapela (POL, 1998), Matthew Cream (AUS, 2000), Alessandro Rocha (BRA, 2001), David Bitton (ISR, 2001), Ridiger Cokaj (ALB, 2002), Ricardo Ake (BLZ, 2002), Berke Tesfagiorghis (ERI, 2002), Alan Camilleri (MLT, 2002), Andrei Bodean (MDA, 2002), Bahattin Duran (TUR, 2002), Emre Eyisoy (TUR, 2002), Pham Manh Long (VIE, 2002), Marios Dimitriadis (CYP, 2003), John Pareanga (COK, 2004), Radoslav Siejka (POL, 2004), Juan Yuste Jimenez (ESP, 2004), Hsu Min-Yu (TPE, 2005), Douglas Bermudez (SLV, 2005), Octavian Sovre (ROU, 2005), Edgar De Barros (Sao Tome, 2005), Tomas Somolani (SVK, 2005).

Assistant Referees (F): Iordanka Korcheva (BUL, 2001), Ekaterina Petkova (BUL, 2002), Kossiwa Kpadenou (TOG, 2002), Sarah Ho (AUS, 2004), Cindy Muller (AUT, 2004), Judit Kulcsar (HUN, 2004), Kim Kyoung Min (KOR, 2004), Lidwine Rakotozafinoro (MAD, 2004), Mayte Chavez (MEX, 2004), Sonia Louis (BEN, 2005), Mona Mahmoud (EGY, 2005), Lee Seul Gi (KOR, 2005), Petruta Iugulescu (ROU, 2005), Maria Sukenikova (SVK, 2005).

Futsal Referees (M): Francisco Rivera (MEX, 2005), Borislav Kolev (BUL, 2006), Jan Kresta (CZE, 2006), Nurdin Bukuev (KGZ, 2006), Josip Barton (MKD, 2006), Ray Ritaga (PHI, 2006), Gean Telles (BRA, 2007), Gabor Kovacs (HUN, 2007), Mohamad Chami (LIB, 2007), Ivan Shabanov (RUS, 2007), Trayan Enchev (BUL, 2008), Marc Birkett (ENG, 2008), Vahid Arzpeyma (IRN, 2008), Eduardo Coelho (POR, 2008).

Futsal Referees (F): Katiucia Meneguzzi (BRA, 2007), Giselle Torri (BRA, 2007), Teresa Da Rosa (URU, 2010), Irina Velikanova (RUS, 2012), Raquel Gonzalez (ESP, 2012), Bettina Cingari (ARG, 2014), Maria Pinto (ARG, 2014), Gelareh Nazemi (IRN, 2014), Liang Qingyun (CHN, 2015), Kumi Hiruma (JPN, 2015), Kumiko Matsuo (JPN, 2015), Liz Arrelano (PER, 2015), Rosa Carvalho (VEN, 2015), Nohely Mendez (VEN, 2015).

Beach Soccer: Libor Kastanek (CZE, 2008), Eduards Borisevics (LVA, 2008), Jelili Ogunmuyiwa (NGA, 2008), Abdulaziz Abdullah (KUW, 2009), Turki Al Salehi (OMA, 2009), Mikhail Prokharav (UKR, 2009), Gerges Yarak (LBN, 2010), Yahya Abdel (LYB, 2010), Said Hachim (MAD, 2010), Suhaimi Mat (MAS, 2010), Ibrahim Wan (MAS, 2010), Oleg Cebotari (MDA, 2010), Tomasz Winiarczyk (POL, 2010), Hugo Pado (SOL, 2010).

Member associations with most FIFA match officials in 2021: Brazil – 51 (16 referees, 16 assistant referees, 7 video match officials, 8 futsal referees, 4 beach soccer referees), Spain – 51 (15 referees, 17 assistant referees, 9 video match officials, 6 futsal referees, 4 beach soccer referees), Germany – 49 (14 referees, 16 assistant referees, 12 video match officials, 4 futsal referees, 3 beach soccer referees), Italy – 49 (14 referees, 15 assistant referees, 10 video match officials, 5 futsal referees, 5 beach soccer referees), France – 45 (14 referees, 16 assistant referees, 9 video match officials, 4 futsal referees, 2 beach soccer referees), Argentina – 44 (15 referees, 15 assistant referees, 3 video match officials, 7 futsal referees, 4 beach soccer referees), Russia – 44 (14 referees, 16 assistant referees, 4 video match officials, 6 futsal referees, 4 beach soccer referees).

Member associations without any FIFA match officials in 2021: American Samoa, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Guam, Liechtenstein, Montserrat, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands.

############