Swedish official Glenn Nyberg has been appointed as the referee for the Group E finale between Curacao and Ivory Coast at the FIFA World Cup, with the two sides meeting in Philadelphia at 9pm BST.

Nyberg will be assisted by fellow Swedes Mahbod Beigi and Andreas Soderkvist, while Switzerland's Sandro Scharer serves as fourth official and compatriot Stephane De Almeida fills the reserve assistant role. The VAR officials for the fixture are yet to be announced.

Nyberg's World Cup experience

This will be the 37-year-old's second assignment at the tournament, having previously overseen Ghana's 1-0 victory over Panama in Group L — a match in which he issued three yellow cards.

Nyberg began officiating in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's top division, in 2013 and has steadily established himself as one of Europe's leading referees. In the UEFA Champions League league phase last season, he took charge of Newcastle United's 2-1 home defeat by Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

He also handled Aston Villa's 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League semi-final at Villa Park, awarding a penalty after a VAR review for a foul by Nikola Milenkovic on Pau Torres.

A disciplinarian when needed

Nyberg generally favours a restrained approach to bookings, registering just 59 yellow cards and one red card across 19 matches since the start of the 2025/26 season, per Transfermarkt.

However, he has shown he will not hesitate when the moment demands it. Most notably, he sent off Cristiano Ronaldo for elbowing Republic of Ireland defender Dara O'Shea during a World Cup qualifying encounter in Dublin last November.

What each side needs

The stakes could hardly be higher in Philadelphia. Curacao — making their World Cup debut — earned their first point at the finals with a 0-0 draw against Ecuador and must win to have any chance of advancing to the knockout stage. A victory would make them the lowest-ranked nation ever to progress beyond the group stage.

Ivory Coast, meanwhile, need a positive result to seal progression from the group stage for the first time in their history, though they could still advance as one of the best third-placed teams even if they fall to defeat.