There will be particularities related to the scale of the competition, said François Letexier, who will referee for the first time at a World Cup

The best referee in 2024 had already been mobilized for Euro 2026 in Germany and the Club World Cup in the summer of 2025 in the United States, but had never participated in a World Cup.

“There will be specificities related to the scale of the competition”, testifies François Letexier in an interview from May 6, who will serve as the main referee for his first World Cup this summer. He is one of the two French referees, alongside Clément Turpin, selected for the World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Originally from Bédée (Ille-et-Vilaine), he expects to enter an “emotional and affective bubble” upon his arrival.

“I will be deprived of the support of my loved ones. It’s not easy to be away from them for six to seven weeks. It’s a very important criterion in the preparation”, he adds in an interview conducted at the National Football Center in Clairefontaine.

Nevertheless, the referee who was elected the best referee in the world in 2024 believes that there is no “major difference” between “preparing for a Euro, a World Cup, or a Club World Cup”. François Letexier has already officiated in the Euro 2024 final, as well as in the Club World Cup in the summer of 2025, held in the United States. “We were in a similar setting”, the referee shared. “Our living center was the same. So I know that I will find familiar reference points and a sense of grounding.”

“The only thing that will make me successful in this competition are our performances”, he continued in the interview. “I am not aiming for a specific level of match, or elements that I would not be in control of. I am only aiming for our performances as a team. If we finish our games feeling that we have been up to the standard we want to achieve, then our competition will be a success.”