As referee Ismail Elfath and assistant referees Corey Parker and Kyle Atkins prepared to oversee their final match as a crew together, they broke their huddle out shouting the same thing they have for the last decade, "Best in the world."
That slogan, too, adorned the gift Elfath's assistants gave him, a framed photo of the coin toss ahead of the World Cup semifinal between Argentina and England.
The two-time MLS Referee of the Year is retiring from professional officiating, he announced Sunday, Oct. 11, the day after calling Austin FC's 4-1 loss to Nashville SC in his Texas hometown. He is doing it confident he lived up to that motto.
"The standard that I set for myself when I started my international referee career in 2016 is that I want to be
the best in the world, and I want to go to tournaments and win them," he told USA TODAY Sports in an interview Sunday. "In refereeing, you win tournaments by doing finals and semifinals, which is something that male American referees have not been able to do."
In addition to that World Cup semifinal, Elfath's other career highlights put him in a unique category among American officials. He served as the fourth official for the 2022 World Cup final and oversaw the finals of the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup and the 2019 U-20 World Cup.
Still just 44, Elfath could continue at the top of the game but said he has three reasons for making the decision to step aside now.
"I feel like I've given everything I can at the level that I hold myself to refereeing," Elfath said. "I have achieved all that I had hoped for and more in terms of my domestic and international career.
"Continuing, I would not be able to give it at the level that I have set my standards for. So that's number one. Number two, I want to spend time with my family with my my children, my boys, who are nine and thirteen."
The third is going out on his own terms, Elfath said, with many veteran referees seeing their quality dip and their careers cut short by assessors or assignors.
Becoming an elite referee requires reaching rigorous standards and demands a significant amount of time. Elfath suffered a knee injury in the 2024 Copa América and returned to referee in 2025 after a long recovery.
After being appointed to the finals of the club competitions, it was clear Elfath would be in the mix for some of the most critical matches. In the end, he was handed a volatile semifinal between Argentina and England, two nations which have a fiery rivalry on the soccer field and experience lingering political tensions off it.
Elfath handed out four yellow cards in that contest, a 2-1 come-from-behind win for Argentina, and also had frequent conversations with captains Harry Kane and Lionel Messi to calm a physical game with many external factors adding to the degree of difficulty.
"I think the the England-Argentina semifinal is definitely the pinnacle of my career because it was bigger than a final by many measures," he said. "I think I was built for that game over 21 years. My style of refereeing is what that game needed, and I think it was a blessing that we were appointed for it."
Yet, there were also moments where the lights didn't shine as bright that Elfath said he'll recall fondly as he looks back on the decade at the top of the sport.
"Doing World Cup qualifiers, seeing small nations in Concacaf that are dreaming of going to the World Cup I've been part of many players' biggest game in their life," Elfath said. "It might be a small nation in Central America or the Caribbean, but to them that's what they'll talk about for 20 or 30 years, the whole country.
"I made sure that I treated that just like I treated the World Cup semifinal between Argentina and England."
For now, Elfath will focus on being with his family and his day job with a a software management company but said he will still be watching the sport closely and would love to work in a role similar to that of other retired accomplished referees with refereeing organizations in the future.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: History-making American World Cup referee Ismail Elfath announces retirement
