A familiar face in Major League Soccer has refereed his final match. Ismail Elfath, who had been with MLS since 2011 and an international referee since 2016, announced his retirement after this past weekend’s slate of games. Born in Morocco, Elfath moved to Austin, Texas as a teenager, and called it a career after one final match in his adopted hometown - Austin losing 4-1 to Nashville SC at Q2 Stadium.
Elfath has long wanted to be one of the top officials in the sport, and his resume certainly shows that he’s been recognized as such. He is a two-time MLS Referee of the Year, and veteran of some of the top domestic and international matches in the sport. “The standard that I set for myself when I started my international referee career in 2016 is that I want to be the best in the world, and I want to go to tournaments and win them,” Elfath told USA TODAY Sports’ Jon Arnold. “In refereeing, you win tournaments by doing finals and semifinals, which is something that male American referees have not been able to do.” It’s those high standards that contributed to his decision to retire. It was a somewhat unexpected announcement - but the 44-year-old couldn’t keep up with his younger self after battling injuries. He notably suffered a knee injury at the 2024 Copa America that took over a year to recover from but was still able to return to the highest level.
Elfath refereed the feisty World Cup semi-final between Argentina and England this summer, the first American to do so at that stage of a men’s World Cup. He also did the Round of 16 clash between Norway and Brazil, and a pair of major group stage games: Spain-Uruguay and Japan-Netherlands. He also did three games at the 2022 World Cup including Japan-Croatia in the Round of 16, as well as serving as the fourth official for the World Cup final. Elfath said that the Argentina-England game was the pinnacle of his career, but that he also looks back fondly on memories of every region or competition he participated in. Whether it was the World Cup final, Concacaf Champions Cup final, or a friendly on a bumpy pitch in the weeds of Concacaf, he enjoyed it all. “Doing World Cup qualifiers, seeing small nations in Concacaf that are dreaming of going to the World Cup I’ve been part of many players’ biggest game in their life,” Elfath said. “It might be a small nation in Central America or the Caribbean, but to them that’s what they’ll talk about for 20 or 30 years, the whole country. I made sure that I treated that just like I treated the World Cup semi-final between Argentina and England.”
By announcing his retirement now, Elfath gets to go out on his own terms. He won’t have to wait long for his next opportunity - he’s already been working at a software development company for years, promoted to Chief Revenue Officer in 2025. “I feel like I’ve given everything I can at the level that I hold myself to refereeing,” Elfath said. “I have achieved all that I had hoped for and more in terms of my domestic and international career. I would not be able to give it at the level that I have set my standards for. So that’s number one. Number two, I want to spend time with my family with my children, my boys, who are nine and 13”. Elfath’s international career also included taking charge of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup final, the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup final, and the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup final, capping off years of consistent performance at the pinnacle of global officiating. “Football has been much more generous to me than I could have ever imagined. I've blown my final whistle as an active referee. Thanks to my family, my mentors, and those in charge of officiating; to the medical and fitness teams; to my dream team, Corey and Kyle; and to all my fellow referees. Now I am your biggest fan. It will be an honor for me to give back everything I've received. For the love of this beautiful sport”.
Source: USA Today
