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WC2026 Referee Style Archetypes

Intervention index averages yellow cards, red cards, and penalties per match. High chaos means more intervention; low chaos means a calmer profile. Omar Abdulkadir Artan stays included, but his penalty rate is based on only 2 matches.

Referee Views

Selected referee
Choose a referee to highlight them in both charts and see their exact per-match rates. ☝ Click any circle to pin the referee name next to it.

Yellow Cards vs Penalties Quadrant Scatter

X is yellow cards per match; Y is penalties per match. Right means more yellow cards on average, up means more penalties. Bubble size reflects match volume, not card severity.

More penalties per match More yellow cards per match Selective box intervention High-control / high-intervention Flow-first / low intervention Whistle-heavy disciplinarian 20406080 20406080 Omar AlAliMaNingCesarRamosIvanBartonKevinOrtegaJuanCalderonYusukeArakiEspenEskasDannyMakkelieGlennNybergMichaelOliverFacundoTelloAndresRojasDarioHerrera Yellow cards per match Penalties per match

Current Rankings

Highest Chaos Index

Higher means more cards, more reds, more penalties, and generally more match intervention.

Ivan Barton
SLV · CONCACAF · high_chaos
94.118
Kevin Ortega
PER · CONMEBOL · high_chaos
86.275
Juan Calderon
CRC · CONCACAF · high_chaos
81.046
Alejandro Hernandez
ESP · UEFA · high_chaos
75.817
Facundo Tello
ARG · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
74.837
Andres Rojas
COL · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
72.549
Hector Said Martinez
HON · CONCACAF · balanced_to_chaotic
71.895
Omar Al Ali
UAE · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
69.608
Istvan Kovacs
ROU · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
69.281
Ma Ning
CHN · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
68.954
Ilgiz Tantashev
UZB · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
68.627
Abdulrahman Al Jassim
QAT · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
68.301
Dario Herrera
ARG · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
67.320

Lowest Chaos Index

Lower means fewer cards, reds, and penalties per match. These are the calmest profiles in the current table.

Glenn Nyberg
SWE · UEFA · low_intervention
7.843
Pierre Atcho
GAB · CAF · low_intervention
7.843
Espen Eskas
NOR · UEFA · low_intervention
11.111
Slavko Vincic
SVN · UEFA · low_intervention
13.725
Yusuke Araki
JPN · AFC · low_intervention
14.706
Tori Penso
USA · CONCACAF · low_intervention
16.340
Alireza Faghani
AUS · AFC · low_intervention
21.569
Dahane Beida
MTN · CAF · low_intervention
24.837
Michael Oliver
ENG · UEFA · balanced_control
25.490
Danny Makkelie
NED · UEFA · balanced_control
26.797
Adham Makhadmeh
JOR · AFC · balanced_control
27.778
Amin Mohamed
EGY · CAF · balanced_control
33.660
Katia Garcia
MEX · CONCACAF · balanced_control
33.660

Most Penalty-Active

Penalty kicks awarded per match. Omar Abdulkadir Artan is excluded from this ranking because his sample is too small to make the penalty rate stable.

Jalal Jayed
MAR · CAF · balanced_control
0.529
Abdulrahman Al Jassim
QAT · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
0.496
Omar Al Ali
UAE · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
0.488
Ivan Barton
SLV · CONCACAF · high_chaos
0.472
Istvan Kovacs
ROU · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
0.425
Ilgiz Tantashev
UZB · AFC · balanced_to_chaotic
0.420
Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh
NZL · OFC · balanced_to_chaotic
0.414
Juan Calderon
CRC · CONCACAF · high_chaos
0.400
Kevin Ortega
PER · CONMEBOL · high_chaos
0.395
Alejandro Hernandez
ESP · UEFA · high_chaos
0.388
Khalid Al Turais
KSA · AFC · balanced_control
0.387
Sandro Schaerer
SUI · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
0.384
Clement Turpin
FRA · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
0.381

Most Card-Heavy

Yellow cards shown per match. This is the simplest strictness view in the current dataset.

Andres Rojas
COL · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
5.511
Dario Herrera
ARG · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
5.392
Yael Falcon Perez
ARG · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
5.300
Jesus Valenzuela
VEN · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
5.231
Facundo Tello
ARG · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
5.107
Ivan Barton
SLV · CONCACAF · high_chaos
5.061
Alejandro Hernandez
ESP · UEFA · high_chaos
5.006
Istvan Kovacs
ROU · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
4.959
Wilton Sampaio
BRA · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
4.918
Gustavo Tejera
URU · CONMEBOL · balanced_to_chaotic
4.854
Kevin Ortega
PER · CONMEBOL · high_chaos
4.802
Hector Said Martinez
HON · CONCACAF · balanced_to_chaotic
4.774
Joao Pinheiro
POR · UEFA · balanced_to_chaotic
4.731