An almost entirely French officiating team led by referee Clement Turpin will take charge of the upcoming World Cup play-off final between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy coming up on Tuesday evening.
The Azzurri will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica at 19.45 BST on Tuesday evening for a spot at the final 2026 World Cup tournament.
Gennaro Gattuso’s side beat Northern Ireland 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean in order to qualify, while Bosnia and Herzegovina required penalties to get past Wales in Cardiff on Thursday night.
Referees appointed for Italy’s World Cup play-off final
43-year-old Turpin will be the man with the whistle for Italy’s World Cup play-off final against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Turpin will be joined by assistant referees Nicolas Dagos and Benjamin Pages, also from France, plus fourth official Jose Maria Sanchez from Spain. Frenchmen Jerom Brisard and Willy Delajod will assist from the VAR booth.
In a slightly alarming precedent for Italy, Turpin was also the referee for their infamous 1-0 loss against North Macedonia during the World Cup play-off semi-final in 2022, which cost the Azzurri their place at the final tournament later that year.
The North Macedonia match was one of five previous Italy matches that Turpin has been involved in. He also took charge of a 3-0 win against Uruguay in a 2017 friendly, a 2-0 win over Poland in the Nations League in 2020, a 3-1 loss against England in qualification for EURO 2024, and the 3-0 win over Israel in World Cup qualifying earlier this season.
Turpin has refereed 12 matches in Ligue 1 so far this season, plus six in the Champions League, two in Champions League qualification, 2 in the UAE Pro League, one in the Saudi Pro League and one in the Coupe De France.
Napoli’s 3-2 Champions League defeat against Chelsea is Turpin’s only match involving an Italian side so far this season.
