The Asian Football Confederation (AFC)’s commitment to ensure the world-class standards of Asian refereeing was reinforced today at the first meeting of the AFC Referees Committee for the term 2023-2027. Led by Chairperson Hany Taleb Al-Raeesi, the Committee approved the establishment of the AFC Elite Video Match Officials Panel, which will be tasked to ensure that the AFC’s Video Match Officials (VMOs) are evaluated through a more stringent and precise process prior to their appointments to the AFC competitions.
Members of the Committee were also updated on the AFC Member Association (MA)’s International Referees Quota for 2025-2026 as well as the members of the AFC Referees Appointment Sub-Committee for the term 2023-2027. The Committee was also briefed on the appointments of the AFC’s match officials across seven AFC Competitions since October last year. Since October last year, the AFC’s match officials have been appointed to the Final of the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2022, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 as well as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Third Place Play-off match. In addition to the AFC Referee Academy, the AFC Refereeing STAR Programme, the AFC MA Refereeing Administration Project as well as the numerous courses and seminars organised since November last year, the Committee praised the game-changing impact of the Online Coaching Sessions, with as many as 107 virtual sessions conducted for the benefit of the AFC’s MAs since its introduction in 2022.
Source: AFC
