On November 3, Sports Weekly reporter Ma Dexing disclosed that Qatari referee Falahi and "veteran" Jassim will officiate the first two rounds of the 36-team tournament.
In 16 days, the Chinese men's soccer team will face Thailand in Bangkok, and the key match will be refereed by a team of Qatari referees appointed by FIFA. Salman Al-Farahi, a "post-90s" referee born on February 5, 1990, has been refereeing in the Qatar Top League since 2014 and became an international referee in 2017. 2022, he was awarded the title of "Elite Referee" by AFC and began to participate in the AFC Champions League. In 2022, he was awarded the title of "Elite Referee" by the AFC and began to participate in the enforcement of the AFC Champions League. His first AFC Champions League match was against Daegu in South Korea, but Shandong Taishan played with a youth team and lost 0-4 due to an epidemic.
According to statistics, Farahi has only refereed seven international A-level matches so far, and Thailand's home match against China will be his eighth international A-level match as a referee. By the end of October this year, he had refereed 153 matches in his career, 132 of which were domestic matches in Qatar. Despite his not-so-experience, he is undoubtedly one of the key referees that Qatar and the AFC are focusing on, and has been included in the list of referees for next year's Asian Cup finals.
The Chinese men's soccer team will return to Shenzhen to take on South Korea on Nov. 21, when it will be refereed by Qatari referee Abdulrahman Jassim, who will be refereeing again since the group stage of the 2019 Asian Cup.
Chinese fans, especially those of Shanghai Harbour, do not have a good impression of these two referees. In the AFC Champions League, Jassim often enforces Chinese Super League matches, with Shanghai Seaports seemingly unlucky under his enforcement.In the 2016 AFC Champions League, Jassim red-carded Lv Wenjun and awarded Jeonbuk Hyundai penalties in a Shanghai SIPG vs Jeonbuk Hyundai match, which resulted in Shanghai SIPG's 0-5 defeat.In the 2017 AFC Champions League, he similarly awarded penalties to the opponents in two Shanghai SIPG matches, with Shanghai SIPG ultimately defeating Melbourne Victory 1-2 in one match and winning 1-0 against Seoul in the other. Shanghai SIPG lost 1-2 to Melbourne Victory in one match and won 1-0 against Seoul in the other.
In the group stage of the U23 Asian Cup in January 2020, Jassim refereed China to a 0-2 defeat against Uzbekistan. In the Qatar World Qualification Round of 12, Jassim's last match ended in a 0-2 defeat against Japan. Looking back, it seems that Jasim's China matches always ended in a loss.
