Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić (46) has been selected by FIFA and legendary refereeing official Pierluigi Collina to officiate the FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.
The experienced official was born in 1979 in Maribor, then part of Yugoslavia and today a city in northeastern Slovenia near the Austrian border.
Vinčić, who will be assisted on the field in New Jersey by fellow Slovenians Tomaž Klančnik and Andraž Kovačić, could not hide his emotions when he learned the news. After the official announcement by the head of the Referees Committee, Vinčić burst into tears.
He has been officiating in the Slovenian top division since May 2007, and FIFA added him to its list of international referees in 2010, when he began working European club competitions.
He made his European Championship debut in 2012 as an assistant referee to his compatriot Damir Skomina, while 2021 marked his major breakthrough, as he officiated the latter stages of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA European Championship.
This appointment represents the absolute pinnacle of his career. Before being selected to referee the World Cup final, his biggest assignments had been the 2022 UEFA Europa League final between Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as the 2024 UEFA Champions League final at Wembley between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
As one of the world’s top referees in recent years, he has frequently been appointed to officiate some of the biggest matches in other domestic leagues, including the heated Turkish derby between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, as well as key matches in the championships of Romania, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. He also officiated matches at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
However, his road to the pinnacle of world football was anything but easy. In May 2020, Vinčić’s name made headlines after Operation Crystal, a police operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was detained during a raid on a private gathering at a ranch near Bijeljina, where police arrested several people on suspicion of organizing prostitution, illegal weapons possession, and drug use.
The Slovenian referee was quickly released and questioned only as a witness during the investigation after authorities determined that he had no connection whatsoever to the alleged criminal activities.
Vinčić explained that he had arrived at the location entirely by chance after accepting an invitation to lunch during a business trip, unaware of what was actually taking place there. He was never prosecuted or charged, and the outstanding referee successfully put the unpleasant episode behind him before returning to football’s biggest stage to officiate a match for the history books.
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Source: Serbian Times, Foto: AP Photo / Adam Hunger