Wilton Pereira Sampaio Gets 2026 World Cup Opening Match
Wilton Pereira Sampaio will referee the opening match of the 2026 World Cup, a major assignment for the 44-year-old referee from Goiás. FIFA put him in charge of Mexico against South Africa in Mexico City on Thursday, June 11, at 16:00 Brasília time.
It will be his second World Cup as a referee after handling four matches in Qatar in 2022. He has been on FIFA's refereeing roster since 2013, and the opening appointment puts him at the center of the tournament's first matchday.
Mexico City opening assignment
The match will be played in Mexico City with Bruno Pires and Bruno Boschilia as assistants. That gives Brazil three officials in the game's most visible early slot, with Sampaio leading the crew for Mexico-South Africa.
He reached the Federação Goiana de Futebol between 2010 and 2011, then moved onto FIFA's list two years later. By the time the 2026 tournament arrives, he will have gone from a regional pathway to the first match of the world championship.
Qatar and Russia experience
His World Cup background is thin but specific. In 2018, he worked as a VAR official in Russia. In Qatar four years later, he handled two group-stage matches, one round of 16 match and one quarterfinal, a workload that showed FIFA trusted him deep into the knockout bracket.
That history explains the scale of this assignment. Opening matches carry attention from the first whistle, and Sampaio arrives with tournament experience across two editions, plus 12 years on FIFA's international refereeing roster by the time Mexico and South Africa meet.
Goiás reaction
The appointment also stirred social media, where Brazilian fans posted humorous tributes calling him “a lenda.” In Goiás, Ronei Ferreira de Freitas said, “Wilton é um profissional que dispensa comentários. Muito dedicado, muito educado, uma pessoa com formação. Desde quando chegou para a gente, começamos a entender que ele tinha um futuro muito grande com relação à arbitragem”.
For Sampaio, the opening whistle on June 11 is the clearest sign yet of where his career has landed: not just back at a World Cup, but trusted with the first match of the tournament.
