Confirmed Match Officials: Manchester City vs Al Ain (FIFA Club World Cup Group Stage) | OneFootball

Manchester City take on Al Ain on matchday two of their FIFA Club World Cup group stage as they travel to Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday night.

Fresh off the back of an opening matchday victory, Pep Guardiola and his players will be hoping to further build on the work achieved in the 2-0 win over Wydad AC to stake a claim for top spot in the group.

Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku recorded all three points against the Moroccan outfit last time out, before Juventus would sweep past Al Ain 5-0 to go top of the table on goal difference, with the Italian giants taking on City on matchday three.

Manchester City will be without Rico Lewis for the clash against United Arab Emirates opposition following his straight red card and one-match ban against Wydad AC, while both John Stones and Rodri are not ready to start.

Pep Guardiola has spoken about his intent to name an entirely changed Manchester City line-up against Al Ain, with the exception of perhaps just one name, pointing towards opportunities for the likes Erling Haaland, Oscar Bobb, Nico, and a debut for Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Ahead of the meeting between Manchester City and Al Ain, FIFA have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium!

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Match Referee

FIFA have confirmed that Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal will oversee proceedings between Manchester City and Al Ain from the role of on-field match official on Sunday night.

The 39-year-old from Oran, Algeria has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2014 and made his debut in the Algerian first division in 2011, since taking charge of matches at the African Cup of Nations, Arab Cup, FIFA World Cup, and CAF Champions League.

Across the course of the 2024/25 season, Ghorbal took charge of a total of 19 matches across all competitions issuing 87 yellow cards, three red cards, and awarding six penalties in the process.

Assistant Referees

Accompanying Mustapha Ghorbal at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday night will be fellow Algerian match officials in Mokrane Gourari and Abbes Akram Zerhouni operating from the position of assistant referees.

Video Assistant Referees

Overseeing Manchester City against Al Ain from the VAR studio this weekend will be the appointing Video Assistant Referee Mahmoud Ashour of Egypt, alongside Uruguay’s Leodan Gonzalez as Assistant Video Assistant Referee.

The Support Video Assistant Referee role has been appointed to China’s Fu Ming.

Fourth Official

Standing between the two dugouts occupied by Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Al Ain’s Vladimir Ivić will be Iranian-Australian fourth official, Alireza Faghani.