English Referee Duo Miss Out on Final: The Inside Story of Oliver and Taylor's World Cup Exit

English referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor have officially ended their officiating journey at this year's Men's World Cup.

With both the Three Lions and the Pampas Eagles reaching the semi-finals, FIFA has made it clear that the two will not officiate any matches involving the English or Argentine sides.

This decision means they are not only unable to referee Wednesday's semi-final but also have to bid farewell to the grand finale on Sunday, June 19 — since at least one of the finalists will face Spain or France.

According to FIFA's avoidance rules, referees cannot officiate matches involving their home country's team to avoid bias, so Taylor and Oliver (the latter having broken Howard Webb's record for most World Cup matches officiated by an English referee) are naturally ruled out of the semi-finals. But the deeper reason lies in the historical political sensitivity between England and Argentina due to the 1982 Falklands War, which also makes them unable to be assigned to any matches involving Argentina. Even if England had been eliminated earlier, the pair would have essentially bid farewell to the final stage.

Relevant media have learned from insiders that the consideration of referee assignments and potential political factors adopts a case-by-case evaluation model, and the long-standing tensions between England and Argentina are always an unavoidable factor.

Even after Argentina defeated Egypt in the round of 16, players sang a song mentioning British overseas territories.

The Falklands War — an armed conflict over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic — broke out from April 2 to June 14, 1982, resulting in 907 deaths.

This policy of not deploying English referees was already implemented during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and it was precisely this rule that prevented Taylor from officiating the Argentina vs. France final at that time.

Insiders revealed that if the final that year had been France vs. Croatia, Taylor would have been the most likely candidate to referee.

England's advancement to the semi-finals also means that if the team reaches the final, Argentine referee Facundo Tello will also be excluded from the final. In addition, Taylor, Oliver, and Tello will also miss the third-place playoff.

Meanwhile, the referee for the Spain vs. France match has been confirmed as Ivan Barton.