HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
The International Federation of Football (FIFA) has excluded Congolese referee Jean Jacques Ndala from the list of referees nominated to participate in the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in mid-June, according to information circulating in sports media circles.
According to the same sources, this decision comes after the great controversy that accompanied the referee's management of the 2025 African Cup of Nations final, which brought together Morocco and Senegal, and which witnessed controversial events and widespread protests over some refereeing decisions. According to the circulating data, the final list adopted by FIFA included a group of prominent referees from the African continent, including Egyptian Amin Omar, Gabonese Pierre Atcho, Moroccan Jalal Jayed, Mauritanian Dahane Beida, South African Tom Abongile, in addition to Somali Omar Artan, who appears for the first time on the list of World Cup candidates. Referee Ndala found himself at the heart of the controversy during the final match, after awarding a late penalty in favor of Morocco, followed by the withdrawal of Senegal players from the field before their return later, in a match that ended with controversial events and subsequent disciplinary repercussions. Despite the widespread circulation of this information, no official confirmation has been issued by the International Federation of Football regarding the referee's final exclusion from the list of referees for the 2026 World Cup, which makes this news within the framework of unconfirmed media data until now, pending the official announcement of the final list of referees participating in the tournament.
