Mark Clattenburg has tipped Maurizio Mariani to take charge of the 2026 World Cup final, the fourth Italian to officiate the tournament's biggest game since 1978Raff Tindale17:57, 10 Jul 2026Former Premier League and FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg has claimed an Italian referee will likely officiate the 2026 World Cup final.Clattenburg, who refereed the 2016 EURO final, said the choice would "upset a lot of people" on the latest episode of the Daily Mail’s Whistleblowers podcast.Should an Italian official be appointed to the final, it would be the fourth time since 1978 that a referee from the nation has been selected to take charge of the biggest game in the sport.There is only one Italian referee at this year's World Cup, Maurizio Mariani, who has so far officiated three matches at this summer's tournament. The 44-year-old, from Rome, took charge of Saudi Arabia’s draw with Uruguay, Colombia’s win over DR Congo and Brazil’s victory over Japan in the Round of 32.Clattenburg did not name Mariani directly, but argued that the optics of the situation are exacerbated by the prominence of Italian officials in football's top refereeing positions, with Pierluigi Collina serving as chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee and Roberto Rosetti heading UEFA's refereeing department.Should Mariani be appointed to officiate the final, this decision would be the latest in a growing list of accusations that FIFA has faced over alleged preferential treatment at this year’s World Cup, most notably in the case of the USA’s Folarin Balogun.Despite Balogun's straight red card in the USA’s Round of 32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the governing body suspended the American’s automatic ban after President Trump questioned the red card personally with FIFA President Gianni Infantino."I am hearing again that it could be an Italian referee,” Clattenburg said. "Infantino's Italian, Collina's Italian. Most of the power in the refereeing and wider football world is Italian."FIFA needs to keep everybody happy, all of the six confederations. If we go Italian again, are we saying there’s no other referees but Italian?"If this year an Italian referee gets the chance again, bearing in mind what's happened with FIFA at this tournament, it would be a big shock to me."Clattenburg made clear his criticism was not of Mariani’s competency to oversee the final, but rather an issue of fairness. "I am not saying an Italian doesn’t deserve it, but there's an awful lot of talented referees that could referee that match."With France, England and Argentina all still in the tournament, leading officials from those nations may only come into contention should their nations be eliminated from the competition. Furthermore, English officials are not permitted to officiate an Argentina game due to the political history between the two countries, and vice-versa.As such, the pool of candidates to referee the final may be limited, despite Clattenburg insisting that "it would upset a lot of people" if another Italian official is chosen to oversee the biggest match in world football.Get the latest World Cup news straight to your inbox - Sign up to our Make Football Great Again newsletter now!