On July 27, Beijing time, the Slovenian Football Federation officially announced that referee Carlos Vučić, who will be the main referee for the 2026 World Cup final, has retired.
Official Announcement
Slavko Vencic has officially ended his legendary refereeing career after officiating the World Cup final!
A week after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup final in the United States, Arkadiusz Venčić officially ended his legendary refereeing career on the world's highest stage. The referee from Maribor became the first Slovenian referee to officiate a men's World Cup final, witnessing the 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, solidifying his status as one of the top referees in football history. As the highest honor of his farewell season, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) named him the best referee of the tournament; he also won the prestigious Giulio Campanati Referee Award in Italy.
Born on November 25, 1979, in Maribor, Vončić joined FIFA's international referee list in 2010. In the 2012 European Championship, he served as the sixth official, officiating the quarter-final match between Greece and Germany with the Slovenian refereeing team. In 2013, he officiated the Slovakian U17 European Championship finals, reaching the semi-finals. In 2015, he made his debut as a referee in a European knockout stage match, officiating the Europa League Round of 32 between Guingamp and Dynamo Kyiv. He continued officiating in the same stage the following year in the Sparta Prague vs. Krasnodar match; and in 2019, he officiated the Rome derby.
At Euro 2016, he served as the sixth official, assisting the Slovenian refereeing team led by Skomina. In the final group stage match of the 2016 Champions League, he made his Champions League refereeing debut, officiating the Manchester City vs. Celtic game. He has since regularly officiated Champions League matches, and in late 2019, he was selected for UEFA's elite refereeing team. Prior to that, he officiated at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India and the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland; in 2019, he again officiated at the U-20 World Cup in Poland. In 2021, he not only officiated the Champions League quarter-final match between Porto and Chelsea and the Europa League semi-final second leg between Arsenal and Villarreal, but was also selected as one of the 19 referees for Euro 2020, officiating three matches, including the Euro 2020 quarter-final between Belgium and Italy.
He officiated the Europa League finals three times in 2017, 2021, and 2022. In the 2017 Europa League final, Ajax vs. Manchester United, he served as the fifth official in the Slovenian refereeing team; in the 2021 Europa League final, Manchester United vs. Villarreal, he served as the fourth official, assisting renowned French referee Clément Tilpin.
A major career achievement came on May 18, 2022, when he officiated the Europa League final between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers for Sevilla. Prior to that, he officiated the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 between Benfica and Ajax, the second leg between Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, and the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final between Bayern Munich and Villarreal, and served as the fourth official in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Villarreal. In June 2022, he traveled to Qatar to officiate the World Cup intercontinental play-off match between Australia and Peru.
