SA ref Abongile Tom to officiate at 2026 World Cup

South African referee Abongile Tom has been included on the final list of match officials for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and will be joined at the global finals by assistant referee Zakhele Siwela.

Tom will officiate at his first World Cip, but for the highly experienced Siwela, it will be his third having run the lines at the 2018 and 2022 editions.

Cape Town-born Tom, 34, is regarded as the top match official in the Premier Soccer League and has been a FIFA referee since 2020.

He officiated at the 2023 and 2025 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, where he took charge of the quarterfinal between eventual champions Senegal and Mali.

There is no place on the World Cup list for DR Congo’s Jean-Jacques Ndala, who took charge of the controversial Cup of Nations final between Senegal and Morocco, where his decision-making was roundly criticised.

Tom joins the likes of Ian McLeod (1998), Jerome Damon (2010) and Victor Gomes (2022) as referees at the World Cup.