Who is the referee for the U22 Vietnam vs Thailand match?
Iranian referee Mooud Bonyadifard has been assigned by the Organizing Committee to officiate the SEA Games 33 final match between Thailand U22 and Vietnam U22.
Referee Mooud Bonyadifard was born in 1985 in Shahre Kord, Iran. He began his professional refereeing career in 2011 in the Persian Gulf Pro League and was promoted to FIFA referee in 2013.
During his career, he has officiated many major Asian matches, including the AFC Champions League Elite, the region's most prestigious club competition, as well as the AFC Asian Cup 2023.
For Vietnamese football, Mooud Bonyadifard is not an unfamiliar name. He previously refereed a match in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, where the Vietnamese national team won 1-0 against Malaysia at My Dinh Stadium.
In addition, he was also assigned by the AFC to referee the match where Vietnam U23 defeated Malaysia U23 2-0 in the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Championship finals.
In the upcoming SEA Games 33 final, the two assistant referees have been identified as Ildorom Alireza (Iran) and Bang Ji Yeol (South Korea), who will jointly officiate and make important decisions on the field.
Attention to the refereeing team has increased following serious controversies in the SEA Games 33 women's football final. The Vietnamese women's team was denied a valid goal by Bich Thuy in their match against the Philippines on the evening of December 17th.
In this situation, the Vietnamese player was standing several meters higher than the opposing defense, and the Laotian assistant referee had a clear view but still raised the flag for offside. That decision cost the Vietnamese women's team the chance to defend their gold medal and they subsequently lost in the penalty shootout.
Speaking after the match, coach Mai Duc Chung expressed his dissatisfaction with the refereeing in the women's football event at the 33rd SEA Games. He argued that the Vietnamese women's team suffered many disadvantages, from the handball incident in the group stage match against the Philippines to the disallowed goal in the final that was not offside, decisions that directly affected the final result.
Before the men's football final, Vietnam U22 coach Kim Sang Sik also addressed the role of the referee. He emphasized that this was a very important match for both teams and hoped that the players would be protected, play safely, and avoid injuries.
According to coach Kim Sang Sik, the impartial and accurate officiating of the referees will contribute to ensuring that the final match is fair, complete, and in the true spirit of a top-level competition at the SEA Games 33.
