Ilgiz Tantashev

Tantashev, a native of Bukhara,^[3] began his refereeing career as an assistant referee in 2008.^[4] He ascended as a central referee to the Uzbekistan Super League and later officiated in the Indian Super League and the Saudi Pro League.^[3]

Following his promotion to a FIFA international referee, Tantashev has taken part in numerous tournaments within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), including the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.^[5][6][7][8] In the latest AFC Asian Cup edition in Qatar, Tantashev was the fourth official in the final between Jordan and Qatar, with Chinese referee Ma Ning leading the officiating team.^[8][9] Other competitions within AFC include three youth tournaments of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup: the editions of 2016, 2020, and the 2022.^[3]

Outside the AFC, Tantashev was selected as a support official for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland, and the men's tournament of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.^[10][3] In the Olympics, Tantashev's final match was a semifinal between Morocco and Spain, where he was forced to abandon the game in the 11th minute due to a collision with Spanish defender Marc Pubill.^[11] Tantashev was replaced by Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg.^[3][11]

Aside from official tournaments, Tantashev has overseen friendly matches.^[12][13] He was named as the Best Referee of Uzbekistan in 2021.^[3]

Tantashev was selected by FIFA to be a central referee in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, along with fellow Uzbeks Timur Gaynullin and Andrey Tsapenko as assistant referees.^{[3][14][15][16][17]}