👀 Copa opener to have Brazilian officials; see more

👀 Copa opener to have Brazilian officials; see more FIFA made it official this Monday (8) that Wilton Pereira Sampaio will be tasked with officiating Mexico vs South Africa, the opening match of the World Cup. The referee from the Goiás federation will be joined by assistants Bruno Pires (GO) and Bruno Boschilia (PR). Wilton Pereira Sampaio is heading to the third World Cup of his career. After being part of the video assistant referee (VAR) team in 2018, he made his on-field World Cup debut in Qatar. And he became the center of attention because of Jude Bellingham’s reaction during France’s victory over England in the quarter-finals.  📸 Julian Finney - 2022 Getty Images Raphael Claus (SP) and Ramon Abatti Abel (SC) are the other Brazilian referees who will work at the World Cup. The assistant referees group also includes Danilo Manis (SP), Rafael Alves (RS) and Rodrigo Figueiredo (RJ), while Rodolpho Toski Marques (PR) will work on VAR.  Mexico and South Africa will face each other next Thursday (11), starting at 4pm (Brasília time). It will be a "rematch" after the same teams also played the opening game of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.