The Asian Cup is for the first time refereed by women

The tournament witnesses another historic precedent by using the video assistant referee system in all matches

Last Thursday, the Asian Football Confederation chose 74 referees to lead the Asian Cup matches hosted by Qatar between January 12 and February 10 in nine stadiums, including two arena referees for the first time in history.

The federation said on its website that it had selected 35 referees and 39 assistant referees, in addition to two reserve referees in each position, representing 18 national federations.

For the first time, women participate in managing the continent’s most important tournaments at the national team level, with the selection of Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita, who was among six female referees chosen in a historical precedent to manage the 2022 Men’s World Cup matches in Qatar, to be among five female referees participating in managing the matches. Asian Cup matches.

The Federation indicated that the selection was based on match leadership skills, competence, technical knowledge and physical fitness, in addition to performance at the highest level in continental and international competitions in recent years.

The list of referees also included Iranian Ali Reza Faghani, who is participating for the third time in the Asian Cup, and Qatari Abdul Rahman Al-Jassem, who led the third-place match in the 2022 World Cup between Croatia and Morocco.

The tournament witnesses another historical precedent, as the video assistant referee system will be used in all matches of the tournament hosted by Qatar, after the success in its use starting from the quarter-finals in the last edition in 2019.

To ensure that the AFC maintains the highest standards of refereeing, this standard list of referees includes expanding the current roles of referees and creating new positions in matches, including video assistant referees.

The selected referees will gather in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, next month to participate in a training course before gathering in Qatar for a week in a final session before the start of the tournament.