Ismail Elfat, who has twice officiated Lionel Messi’s trophy-winning matches, will referee England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
The 44-year-old was responsible for the group games between Japan and the Netherlands and Uruguay against Spain at the tournament, as well as Norway’s Round of 16 victory over five-time winners Brazil.
He handed out six yellow cards and showed Uruguay midfielder Agustin Canobbio a straight red card for a serious challenge on Spain defender Pau Kubarsi.
After being sent off, Canobbio confronted the referee and grabbed him by the shirt.
Wednesday’s game in Atlanta (20:00 BST) will be shown live on BBC One.
Americans Elfata Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins will be assistant referees, and Italian Maurizio Mariani will be the fourth referee.
Elfat was the fourth official for Argentina’s 2022 World Cup final victory over France and was the referee when Messi won his first trophy for Inter Miami, a penalty shootout victory over Nashville in the 2023 League Cup final.
He has been playing in Major League Soccer since 2012 and has twice been named MLS Referee of the Year.
Originally from Morocco, Elfat moved to America at age 18 after winning a U.S. government-sponsored visa lottery.
Meanwhile, England’s Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor were ruled out of contention to referee the World Cup final due to FIFA conflict of interest rules.
Referees cannot referee matches involving their own country, but officials from England and Argentina also cannot referee games involving the two countries due to their political rivalry, due in part to the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982.
Argentine referee Facundo Tello is excluded from the competition for the same reason, since all three referees are also ineligible for the third place playoff, since one of the teams is guaranteed to participate in it.
The regulations also disqualified Taylor from refereeing the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.