Asian football history is making this week as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system marks its debut in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Club Competitions when Saudi Arabian giants Al Nassr and Al Ahli Saudi FC battle in the AFC Champions League Quarter-finals at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. Asian refereeing set new benchmarks earlier this year when the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 became the first AFC competition to successfully implement VAR across all 32 matches. Now Asia’s premier club tournament will become the third AFC competition to embrace the latest in technology from the Quarter-finals after it was first introduced from the same stage of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. As part of the AFC’s commitment to ensure Asia’s match officials are equipped with the latest in VAR developments, numerous seminars and courses have been organized with the first-ever online AFC VAR course held as recent as last month, which engaged a total of 104 AFC Elite Match Officials from 19 Member Associations. Additionally, to further enhance the AFC’s VAR capabilities, a virtual AFC VAR Information Officer (VIO) Workshop 2020 was organized on August 26 to ensure VIOs are well-versed with the technical requirements of the VAR system. The VAR system, which aims to provide minimum interference with maximum benefits, is limited to four game-changing decisions or incidents, specifically - goal or no goal, penalty-kicks, direct red cards and mistaken identity decisions. (Source: AFC)
Referee: Adham Makhadmeh (JOR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Ahmed Al Roalle (JOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Mohammad Al Kalaf (JOR)
Fourth Official: Hettikankanamge Perera (SRI)
Reserve AR: Palitha Hemathunga (SRI)
VAR: Ali Al-Qaysi (IRQ)
AVAR 1: Mohd Yaacob (MAS)
AVAR 2: Hanna Hattab (SYR)
Al Nassr – Al Ahli SFC
Referee: Sivakorn Pu-Udom (THA)
Assistant Referee 1: Ronnie Min Kiat (SIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Abdul Hasim (SIN)
Fourth Official: Nawaf Shukralla (BHR)
Reserve AR: Yoon Kwang-Yeol (KOR)
VAR: Muhammad Bin Jahari (SIN)
AVAR 1: Kim Dae-Yong (KOR)
AVAR 2: Kim Hee-Gon (KOR)