North American referee Ismail Elfath has been appointed to officiate Portugal’s debut match at the 2022 FIFA World Cup against Ghana (Thursday, 4pm, RTP1 and SportTV), counting for Group H, FIFA announced on Tuesday .
Elfath, aged 40, is one of 28 debutants in the world championships and will officiate for the first time a match for the Portuguese main team, and the only connection with the Portuguese colors will be a match for the under-20 formation, in the 2019 World Cup in Poland.
The American was chosen at the time to take charge of the group stage match with Argentina, which Portugal lost 2-0. That formation had Diogo Costa, Diogo Dalot and Rafael Leão, who are now at the service of the ‘AA’ squad at Mundial2022.
Elfath, an international since 2016, will be assisted on the field by compatriots Kyle Atkins and Corey Parker, while France’s Stéphanie Frappart (one of three referees present in Qatar) will act as fourth official.
The also North American Armando Villarreal will be the video referee.
The other group match (Uruguay – South Korea) will be refereed by Frenchman Clement Turpin.
Portugal and Ghana will play at Estádio 974 in Doha in Group H of the 2022 Mundial at 7pm local time (4pm Lisbon) on Thursday.
The ‘quinas’ team will then face Uruguay on November 28 (22:00 local time) and South Korea on December 2 (18:00), from Paulo Bento.
Source: DN
