Iranian referee Alireza Faghani officiated the match between Vietnam and Jordan
According to the assignment of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Iranian referee Alireza Faghani will officiate the opening match of the 2019 Asian Cup Round of 16 between Vietnam and Jordan.
This referee is no stranger to Vietnamese fans, because this "man in black" was the one who officiated the second leg of the 2018 AFF Cup final between Vietnam and Malaysia at My Dinh Stadium on December 15.
In this match, referee Alireza Faghani showed 10 yellow cards, 6 for the home team, 4 of which were shown after only the first 30 minutes of play. At the end of the match, the Iranian referee also showed a red card to a Malaysian player.
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Referee Alireza Faghani gave a rather confusing yellow card to goalkeeper Dang Van Lam in the second leg of the 2018 AFF Cup final. |
Alireza Faghani has been a FIFA referee since 2008 and has refereed more than 115 international matches. He was also named Asia's best referee in 2016 and 2018.
Referee Alireza Faghani was also appointed to officiate four matches at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, including Germany vs Mexico, Serbia vs Brazil in the group stage, France vs Argentina in the round of 16 and the third-place match between Belgium and England.
Alireza Faghani was later honored to be voted one of the best referees at that year's World Cup. The matches he officiated were very tense but without any controversy.
Not only that, this 41-year-old referee also "weighed the scales" of several other important matches such as the 2014 AFC Champions League final, the 2015 Asian Cup final and the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup final.
According to the schedule, the match between Vietnam and Jordan in the round of 16 of the 2019 Asian Cup will take place at 6:00 p.m. on January 20 (Vietnam time), at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai.