Revealed: The unique record of Slavko Vincic, referee of the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, with Messi and Yamal

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has appointed Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic with the biggest appointment in his career, confirming that he will officiate the 2026 FIFA World Cup final on Sunday between defending champions Argentina and Spain at New York, New Jersey.The 46-year-old has spent almost two decades rising through the ranks of referees in European football, and is now the man tasked with overseeing one of the most anticipated World Cup finals in recent history. He will be assisted by his Slovenian compatriots Tomasz Klančnik and Andraz Kovac, while Jordanian Adham Makhamma was appointed as the fourth referee and Muhammad Al-Khalaf as a reserve assistant referee.For Vincic, this appointment represents the culmination of a career built on steady progress in domestic, European and international football.

From Slovenia to the biggest stage in football

Vincic was born in Maribor, Slovenia, in 1979, and began refereeing professionally in his country’s top flight in 2007 before earning his FIFA international badge in 2010.His performances quickly placed him among the elite of UEFA’s officials, leading to regular appointments in the Champions League and Europa League.

Over the past decade, he has officiated some of the biggest occasions in European football, including the 2022 Europa League Final between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers and the 2024 Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Alongside his duties with the club, Vincic has become a regular player in international tournaments, having officiated at UEFA Euro 2020, Euro 2024, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and now the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where his performances earned him a place in the final of the tournament.According to Transfermarkt, Vincic has officiated over 500 professional matches, issuing 2,093 yellow cards, 113 red cards and conceding 117 penalties during his career.

Sunday’s final will be Vincic’s eighth World Cup match over the past two tournaments.He made his debut at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 before returning for four more dates during the 2026 tournament. These performances convinced FIFA’s refereeing department to hand him the final between Spain and Argentina.

Earlier in the World Cup, Vincic officiated Brazil’s group stage draw with Morocco, Algeria’s win over Jordan, and Mexico’s win over Ecuador in the round of 32.

That knockout match attracted particular attention after Vincic sent off Ecuadorian defender Piero Hincapie after a VAR review for covering his mouth while speaking to Mexican striker Santiago Jimenez, marking the first red card of his career at major international tournaments after previously overseeing ten World Cup and European Championship matches without a player being sent off.

Despite Argentina’s regular appearances in major tournaments, Vincic has only managed Lionel Scaloni’s side once before.This one-on-one encounter came in one of the most memorable matches of the 2022 World Cup, Argentina’s shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening group stage match.The Slovenian referee awarded an early penalty kick to Argentina after Leandro Paredes was obstructed inside the penalty area, allowing Lionel Messi to score from a penalty kick, and six yellow cards were later issued to Saudi players.Although Argentina suffered one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history that afternoon, they recovered to win six straight matches and lift the trophy in Qatar.Therefore, Sunday’s final will be Argentina’s second match in Vincic’s international refereeing career.

By contrast, Spain have faced Vincic more often, although all of those encounters have come in UEFA competitions, with the Slovenian referee having never officiated Spain in a World Cup match before the 2026 deadline.Before the final, he officiated four matches played by La Roja, with Spain unbeaten in each of them.

Vincic’s early stints with Spain came before Lamin Yamal’s rise to senior international level.His first cap for Spain came in a 2017 friendly match against Colombia, which ended in a 2-2 draw, before managing Spain’s goalless group stage draw at Euro 2020 against Sweden. He was later set to feature in the UEFA Nations League semi-final with Italy in 2023, which Spain won 2-1, further highlighting his involvement in major European matches.

Vincic also managed Spain during Lamine Yamal’s emergence, including two crucial matches in their Euro 2024 win.These included Spain’s 1-0 group stage win over Italy and a memorable 2-1 semi-final win over France, with Yamal scoring a stunning long-range equalizer before Spain completed another comeback en route to lifting the European Championship.During both phases, before and after Yamal’s breakthrough, Spain maintained a perfect record under Vincic, going unbeaten in all four matches.This contradiction adds an interesting subplot to the final, as Spain has yet to lose under the referee’s whistle, while Argentina’s only previous experience with a Slovenian referee ended in defeat.

The career continued after a 2020 police investigation

Away from football, Vincic briefly found himself making international headlines in 2020 after he was arrested during a police raid on a suspected prostitution and organized crime operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Slovenian authorities and Vincic have consistently maintained that he was attending a business meeting and was not involved in any criminal activity.

He was released without charges, no action was taken against him, and he returned to office shortly after.His subsequent appointments in the Champions League final, the European Championship final, the World Cup and now the 2026 World Cup final underscore the trust that UEFA and FIFA have continued to place in him since that incident.But on Sunday, none of that history will matter once the whistle blows. Vincic will oversee only the second World Cup final ever between defending champions Argentina and the newly crowned European champions, with the biggest prize in football and a place in history waiting for the winner.