The World Cup final referee retired a week later — and his career is a story all its own
Slavko Vincic, the 46-year-old Slovenian referee who officiated the final between Spain and Argentina, has announced his retirement. Look back at his career and controversial past.
Seven days after officiating the most important final in world football, Slavko Vincic hung up his whistle. The 46-year-old Slovenian, who refereed the showdown between Spain and Argentina on the 19th, announced his retirement this Monday through the Slovenian Football Federation.
"One week after the World Cup final in the USA, Slavko Vincic officially brought his historic refereeing career to a close at the pinnacle of the sport," the Federation wrote on its website.
Going out at the top. It makes sense. Vincic had been on FIFA's list since 2010 and built an impressive résumé: he refereed the 25/26 Champions League quarter-finals between Bayern and Real Madrid, and also the 23/24 grand final — the one in which Real beat Borussia Dortmund 2–0 to lift the trophy.
At the 2026 World Cup, he was involved from the very start. He officiated the qualification play-offs, and his group-stage debut was none other than Brazil's 1–1 draw with Morocco — a match in which he booked Ibañez and Casemiro. He also took charge of Jordan 1–2 Algeria and Mexico 2–0 Ecuador before reaching the final, which ended with Spain's second world title.
But Vincic's career carries a shadow that time has not erased. In May 2020, he was detained by police in Bosnia and Herzegovina during an operation targeting drug trafficking and prostitution in Bijeljina. At the scene, according to the Slovenian press, ten pistols, 14 packages of cocaine and more than ten thousand euros were seized. Vincic was released after questioning — but the episode has never stopped following him.
He walked away with a World Cup final on his résumé. The question that lingers: will Vincic's legacy be defined by his whistle or by that night in 2020?