The FIFA's announcement of referees for the 2025 Club World Cup excluded all Costa Rican referees, despite the inclusion of referees from other CONCACAF nations like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, the United States, and Nicaragua. This decision comes after FIFA's previous disregard for Costa Rica's Alajuelense club's concerns regarding ownership issues.
Alajuelense has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and this matter is pending resolution. FIFA's statement highlighted the selection of 117 referees from 41 federations; however, no Costa Rican referees were included. FIFA President Pierluigi Collina emphasized the importance of maintaining high standards and expressed confidence in the selected referees.
The article also mentioned that FIFA will implement new rules, in line with changes approved by IFAB, aimed at reducing time-wasting by goalkeepers. Under these new rules, if a goalkeeper retains the ball for more than eight seconds, a corner kick will be awarded to the opposing team.