Barton brings extensive experience of international tournaments to a clash between the league's top two, a fixture that could reshape the race for first place.
Pyramids go into the match top of the table on 24 points, with Al-Ahly second on 20. A win would let the Red side close the gap to a single point. Pyramids, meanwhile, want to stretch their lead and tighten their grip on the summit.
Holding FIFA's international badge since 2018, Barton has worked a string of major tournaments at both national team and club level.
The Salvadoran refereed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar before taking charge of matches at the 2026 edition, cementing his standing among CONCACAF's officials.
In Qatar he handled three games, most notably Japan against Germany, Brazil against Switzerland, and England's round-of-16 tie with Senegal.
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His CV runs deeper still: the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Under-17 World Cup and the football competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
At the 2026 World Cup, Barton officiated four matches. The pick of them was the semi-final between France and Spain, a landmark in his career and in the refereeing history of Central America.
CONCACAF confirmed the appointment made him the first referee from the region to take charge of a World Cup semi-final, and the youngest official in the confederation's history to work a match at that stage.
He got there aged 35 years, five months and 17 days, according to CONCACAF, who added that his crew featured compatriot David Moran and Nicaraguan assistant Antonio Bobbiero.
That assignment speaks to the trust Barton has earned on the world stage, handed one of the biggest matches at the game's biggest tournament, well beyond CONCACAF's own competitions.
Now that record faces a fresh test on Egyptian soil. Barton takes charge of Al-Ahly against Pyramids, a tie that carries real weight given where both sides sit in the table.
