The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has highlighted the Asian Video Assistant Referees (VARs) as they get ready to represent the region at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which is less than a week away.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system was used for the first time at the FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018 and four years later, a team of 24 Video Match Officials (VMOs) have been trusted to run the game-changing system in Qatar, the AFC announced on its website on Tuesday.
Forming Asias stellar line-up are none other than Abdulla Al-Marri from Qatar, Singapores Muhammad Taqi and Shaun Evans from Australia, who were selected based on their quality and the performances delivered at FIFA tournaments as well as at other international and domestic competitions in recent years.
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The AFC praised Al-Marri saying that Al-Marri has experienced a meteoric rise since becoming a FIFA Referee in 2018. His first international VMO assignment was at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Brazil 2019 before being selected to officiate at the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020.
The AFC website pointed out that Al-Marri has also officiated a series of high-profile matches in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, but his most notable achievement came last year when he was appointed as the VMO for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic mens gold medal match between Brazil and Spain.
Al-Marri will be the second Qatari to operate as a VMO at the FIFA World Cup after compatriot Abdulrahman Al Jassim the first-ever AFC official to perform the VMO role in Russia four years ago.
The AFC website also praised Muhammad Taqi from Singapore, noting that Taqi became a FIFA Referee in 2012 and Singapore’s first FIFA VMO in 2021. Taqi’s appointment as a VMO at Qatar 2022 represents a refereeing journey that has seen him officiate at the AFC Asian Cup, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as the AFC Asian Qualifiers Road to Qatar, amongst a lengthy list of achievements. In addition to being an active VMO in AFC and FIFA level competitions, he has been a key figure in the ongoing implementation of the VAR technology in the Singapore Premier League.
Taqi will be just the fifth Singaporean official to officiate at the FIFA World Cup following George Suppiah (1974), K. Visvanathan (2022), Shamsul Maidin (2006), and Jeffrey Goh (2010). Regarding the Australian referee Shaun Evans, the AFC stated that he was appointed as a FIFA Referee in 2017 and that during the course of his 14-year career as a referee, he had refereed nearly 150 A-League games.
The 2019 A-League grand final between Perth Glory and Sydney FC was officiated by the 2018 A-League Referee of the Year.
Evans has overseen multiple AFC Champions League games on the continental level, as well as the AFC Asian Qualifiers Road to Qatar, but this will be his first time in the world championship in Qatar.
