The referee from Argentina's night in Lusail will take the World Cup final

The name Collina read out

FIFA released the video on 17 July. When Pierluigi Collina, who chairs the refereeing committee, named the man for the final, Slavko Vinčić put both hands over his face. He hugged the colleague next to him, and the room of referees applauded. He later said he had been trembling.

No Slovenian has refereed a World Cup final before. By FIFA's count, only 23 people in history have refereed one. His assistants are fellow Slovenians Tomaž Klančnik and Andraž Kovačič; Adham Makhadmeh of Jordan is the fourth official.

Lusail, 22 November 2022

In Buenos Aires, though, the name brought back something other than tears.

Infobae and La Nación both reached for the same date the moment the appointment landed. 22 November 2022, Lusail Stadium: Argentina's 1-2 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening match in Qatar. Vinčić refereed it. Argentina had several goals ruled out on millimetric offside calls. They went on to win the tournament from there, but taken on its own, that was the worst opening night Argentina have had.

Spain's ledger

The same announcement is being read the other way round elsewhere in the Spanish-language press.

Telemundo and Excélsior lined up a different record: Spain have never lost with Vinčić refereeing. What can be confirmed is the Euro 2024 semi-final, 2-1 against France, and the group-stage win over Italy, 1-0, at the same tournament. Both are cited as good nights for this Spain generation.

This is meaning applied after the fact, of course. There is no basis for thinking a referee's past results carry into the next 90 minutes. Even so, the papers in both countries are using one announcement as evidence pointing in opposite directions.

The past filed under "criminal record"

Some outlets went further. Exitoina in Argentina put "criminal record" in its headline.

Here is what happened. In May 2020, Vinčić was detained during a Bosnian police raid on a network involving prostitution, drugs and illegal weapons. He was questioned as a witness and released the same night without charge. The Slovenian football association backed him — he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" — and closed the matter. There has been no conviction.

In the six years since, he has been given the 2022 Europa League final, the 2024 Champions League final and the Euro 2024 semi-final.

What the whistle is like

On the calls themselves, both sides of the argument survive.

ESPN pointed to Real Madrid's anger after their match against Bayern. Camavinga, just booked, picked up the ball and moved a few metres away; the second yellow came for time-wasting. Jude Bellingham called the red card "a joke" in the mixed zone: "Two fouls, two yellow cards."

José Mourinho, on the other hand, has praised him. In 2025, while complaining about Turkish referees, Mourinho — then in charge of Fenerbahçe — got Vinčić for Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahçe and said: "The performance of the referee was a top performance. Anyone, not just from this country but also abroad, watched a big football match. I think the man responsible for that was the referee."

Strict on the letter of the law, credited with controlling hostile matches. How that combination plays out across 90 minutes in which Messi and Lamine Yamal will be drawing fouls is not knowable yet.

His fourth match here

The final will be Vinčić's fourth match at this World Cup, after Brazil vs. Morocco and Jordan vs. Algeria in the group stage and Mexico vs. Ecuador in the round of 32. He took charge of two matches in Qatar.

Kick-off is 04:00 JST on Monday 20 July at MetLife Stadium. The day before, at 06:00 JST on Sunday 19 July, France play England in the third-place match in Miami.