FIFA have appointed Moroccan-born American referee Ismail Elfath as the center referee for Ghana vs Portugal 🇵🇹
This is the opener of Group H of the 2022 FIFA World Cup including Porugal, Uruguay, Ghana and South Korea.
This is a repeat of the 2014 World Cup Group G fixture which saw Portugal defeating Ghana by two goals to one.
Ismail ELFATH was born on March 3, 1982(40 years) in Casablanca, Morocco and left for the United States in 2001 after winning a visa lottery.
He completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas in 2006.
In 2019, he was selected to officiate FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland. Elftah together with American assistant referees Corey Parker and Kyle Atlins was selected to officiate the final of the tournament, which saw Ukraine defeating South Korea by two goals to one to win the ultimate. Later that year, he took charge of the semi-final match at the FIFA Qatar 2019 Club World Cup. Elfath was named the Major League Soccer Referee of the year for the first time in his career in 2020.
He received the honour after two years in 2022
He has been a referee in the Major League Soccer since 2012 and a FIFA-appointed referee since 2016.
Portugal suffered a defeat 2-0 defeat to Argentina in the only game Elfath handled in the history of Portugal.
He has also handled a game once involving an African side at the world level. He was the man in charge when West African side Mali’s U20 suffered a 4-2 loss to Italy.
He has officiated 19 games in 2022.
He has shown 4 red cards in 2022.
He has awarded 9 penalties in 2022.
He has shown 97 cards in 2022.
He shows an average of 4.84 cards per game in 19 games in 2022.
Group H - 24 November 2022, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium
POR🇵🇹🆚GHA🇬🇭
Referee: Ismail ELFATH 🇺🇸
AR 1: Kyle ATKINS 🇺🇸
AR 2: Corey PARKER 🇺🇸
4th: Stéphanie FRAPPART 🇫🇷
