England take on Senegal in a crunch second-round World Cup clash on Sunday night, with Gareth Southgate’s men hoping to make it to at least the quarter-finals for the third major tournament in a row.
England topped Group B with seven points from a possible nine, ahead of USA, Iran and Wales. Their reward for easily navigating the group stage is a tie against Senegal, who finished second in Group A behind the Netherlands.
The match kicks off at 7pm (UK time) and will take place at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, some 30 miles north of Doha. Below we take a look at the man who will be in charge of the fixture, and the other officials:
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Who is the referee for England v Senegal?
The match will be officiated by Ivan Barton from El Salvador. At 31, he is actually younger than some of the players expected to take to the field, including England stars Jordan Henderson and Kieran Trippier. He is the third youngest referee at this year’s World Cup.
This tournament is his first ever World Cup and he has taken charge of two games so far: Brazil’s 1-0 win over Switzerland and Japan’s 2-1 shock comeback victory against Germany.
Barton is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of El Salvador, and has only been on FIFA’s list of referees for four years. However, he has already refereed at the 2018 Concacaf Under-20 Championship, the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup, the Concacaf Nations League and the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Who are the assistant referees for England v Senegal?
Barton will be assisted in the match by Kathryn Nesbitt, from the USA, on one side and by David Moran, also from El Salvador, on the other. Nesbitt became the first woman to referee a championship match in men’s sports in North America in 2020, and has been named the MLS assistant referee of the year. Her first appearance at a World Cup was the group game between Germany and Japan, when she was the VAR official.
Moran has already been an assistant referee at three games in this World Cup, and has tournament experience after being an official at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
England v Senegal referee, assistant and VAR list in full:
Referee: Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
Assistant referees: Kathryn Nesbitt (USA) and David Moran (El Salvador)
Fourth official: Said Martínez (Honduras)
Reserve assistant referee: Helpys Raymundo Feliz (Dominican Republic)
Video assistant referee (VAR): Drew Fischer (Canada)
Assistant video assistant referees: Armando Villarreal (United States), Corey Parker (United States), Nicolas Gallo (Colombia)
Stand-by assistant video assistant referee: Kyle Atkins (United States)
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