France and Spain meet in Dallas this evening in the first of two FIFA World Cup semi-finals, with a place in Sunday's final on the line. The winner will face either England or Argentina, who contest the second semi-final the following night.

El Salvador's Ivan Barton has been appointed as referee for the match — his fourth assignment of the tournament so far.

Barton's tournament so far

The 35-year-old previously officiated group stage clashes between Turkey and Paraguay, and Japan and Sweden, before taking charge of the round of 16 fixture between Switzerland and Colombia.

Barton grabbed headlines during the Turkey-Paraguay match when he made history by becoming the first referee at this World Cup to send off a player for covering their mouth with their hand. The decision to dismiss Miguel Almiron was upheld after a VAR review.

This is Barton's second World Cup. He refereed three matches at Qatar 2022, among them England's round of 16 encounter against Senegal.

Card record this tournament

Barton's approach to card distribution has been notably measured at this tournament — he has shown just 10 yellow cards across his three matches, in addition to Almiron's red.

That is a stark contrast to his domestic record. In 21 Salvadoran league matches across 2025 and 2026, Barton issued 12 red cards and 113 yellow cards.

For context, across all three of his matches at Qatar 2022, he booked only three players in total.

Full officiating team

Barton will be assisted on the pitch by fellow Salvadorans David Moran and Antonio Pupiro. Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg serves as fourth official, with compatriot Mahbod Beigi as reserve assistant referee.