OFFICIAL: referee Vincic, 46, retires after World Cup final

On July 26th, the Slovenian Football Association officially announced that Slavko Vinčić, the referee for the 2026 World Cup final, has retired from refereeing professional football

Official Announcement

Slavko Vinčić has officially ended his legendary refereeing career after officiating the World Cup final!

A week after the conclusion of the World Cup final in the United States, Vinčić officially brought his legendary refereeing career to a close on the highest stage of world football. The referee from Maribor became the first Slovenian head referee to officiate a men's World Cup final, taking charge of Spain vs. Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final in East Rutherford and 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 this World Cup; he also won the prestigious Giulio Campanati Referee Award in Italy.

Born in Maribor on November 25, 1979, Vinčić joined the FIFA International Referees List in 2010. At Euro 2012, he served as the sixth official, assisting the Slovenian referee team in officiating the Euro quarter-final between Greece and Germany. In 2013, he officiated at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals in Slovakia, reaching the semi-finals. In 2015, he made his debut as the head referee in a European knockout match, taking charge of the Europa League Round of 32 match between Guingamp and Dynamo Kyiv. The following year, he continued officiating at the same stage with Sparta Prague vs. Krasnodar, and in 2019, he officiated the Rome Derby.

At Euro 2016, he served as the sixth official, assisting the Slovenian refereeing team led by Damir Skomina. In the final round of the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2016, he made his debut as a head referee in the Champions League proper, officiating Man City vs. Celtic. Since then, he has regularly officiated Champions League matches and was selected for the UEFA Elite Referees Group at the end of 2019. Prior to this, he officiated at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India and the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland, before returning to Poland in 2019 to officiate at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. In 2021, he officiated the Champions League quarter-final between Porto and Chelsea and the Europa League semi-final second leg between Arsenal and Villarreal, and was also included in the list of 19 head referees for Euro 2020, officiating a total of three matches, including the Euro quarter-final between Belgium and Italy.

In 2017, 2021, and 2022, he was involved in officiating the Europa League final on three occasions. In the 2017 Europa League final between Ajax and Man United, he served as the fifth official as part of the Slovenian referee team; in the 2021 Europa League final between Man United and Villarreal, he served as the fourth official, assisting French elite referee Clément Turpin.

A major career honor came on May 18, 2022, when he officiated the Europa League final between Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers in Seville. Earlier, he had officiated the Champions League Round of 16 first leg between Benfica and Ajax, the Champions League Round of 16 second leg between Man United and Atlético Madrid, and the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Bayern and Villarreal, and had served as the fourth official in the Champions League semi-final first leg between Liverpool and Villarreal. In June 2022, he traveled to Qatar to officiate the World Cup intercontinental play-off between Australia and Peru.

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