July 20 (Reuters) - UEFA ⁠President Aleksander Ceferin refused to attend Sunday’s World ⁠Cup final following a series of disagreements between ‌the European governing body and FIFA over disciplinary procedures, refereeing logistics, and match operations, a source with direct knowledge of the matter ​told Reuters.

A central point of contention ⁠was FIFA's decision to ⁠suspend the implementation of an automatic one-match ban for United ⁠States ‌forward Folarin Balogun following a red card.

The saga became one of the tournament’s biggest ⁠controversies, drawing condemnation from the European football body, ​which said ‌FIFA had "crossed a red line."

Another reason for Ceferin's absence ⁠was the ​case of Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan being unable to take part in the World Cup after being denied ⁠entry into the United States.

Artan was ​subsequently appointed to officiate the UEFA Super Cup between Paris St Germain and Aston Villa in August.

Additionally, European delegates ⁠raised concerns regarding the geopolitical management of matches involving Iran, alongside operational adjustments introduced for the tournament.

These included the implementation of mandatory hydration breaks and an ​extended half-time interval in the final, ⁠which FIFA introduced in this tournament.

Spain were crowned world champions ​after a 1-0 victory over ‌Argentina in extra time.

(Reporting by ​Julien Pretot, Tommy Lund in Gdansk and Karan Prashant Saxena in Bangalore, editing by Pritha Sarkar)