VFF does not permanently suspend referee Ha Anh Chien

Different from the proposal of the Referee Board, the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) only did not invite Mr. Chien to referee the 2016 season.

Referee Ha Anh Chien made a serious mistake in the match between Thanh Hoa and Song Lam Nghe An.

“Using the term permanent suspension is illegal. Refereeing is a part-time job, if we see that they are not doing well, we will not invite them anymore, but we cannot use the terms discipline or suspension. In the case of referee Ha Anh Chien, we cannot conclude that there is any negative, so we only did not invite them to work until the end of the 2016 season because of professional errors,” a member of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Football Federation shared.

Referee Ha Anh Chien was the one who blew the penalty, helping Thanh Hoa equalize 2-2 in the last minute when hosting Song Lam Nghe An in round 9 of V-League 2016 on May 8. This was a wrong call because Dinh Hoang fouled Omar nearly two meters outside the penalty area.

"Referee Ha Anh Chien was clearly wrong, affecting the match result, damaging the image of referees as well as Vietnamese football," said VFF Referee Committee Head Nguyen Van Mui.

After the above incident, the Referee Board proposed to permanently suspend referee Ha Anh Chien and send it to the VFF Standing Committee for decision.

Referee Ha Anh Chien himself admitted to calling the wrong penalty and apologized to Song Lam Nghe An Club as well as the fans of this team. However, he said that this was just a professional mistake, there was absolutely no negativity. Thanh Hoa Club also spoke up to confirm that there was no way the team had influenced the referee to gain an advantage in the home match. Meanwhile, SLNA Club sent a document requesting to permanently suspend referee Chien.

According to VNE