A former World Cup assistant referee has hit back at conspiracy theories suggesting officials are manipulating results to engineer a Lionel Messi appearance in Sunday’s final between Argentina and Spain.
Darren Cann, who served as an assistant referee at two World Cups in 2010 and 2014 alongside referee Howard Webb and fellow assistant Michael Mullarkey, says the idea of any coordination between FIFA and officials is simply not true. He insists referees operate independently, drawn from different football associations and confederations across the globe, with FIFA borrowing their services for six weeks while they remain housed in a separate training camp.
One rumour circulating claims FIFA engineered an Argentina versus Spain final to create a symbolic passing of the baton between Messi and Spain’s Lamine Yamal — a story linked to a photograph of the two players together when Yamal was a baby. Cann says he was personally unaware the photograph even existed, and suspects many referees at this World Cup would say the same.
Cann described the working environment for officials as relentless, with days filled by physical training, video analysis, and debriefing sessions from the previous day’s matches. There is little downtime, and once one assignment is completed, preparation for the next begins immediately. He was clear that no clandestine meetings take place between FIFA’s executive committee and the officiating teams.
While acknowledging that referees do make mistakes — a product of human nature in a fast-moving game — Cann was firm that errors are never the result of being directed toward a predetermined outcome.
Image credit: BBC Sport / BBC Sport
