Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Asian Football Confederation Member Associations will provide eight of the 40 referees at next month’s FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia, after the full list of officials was revealed overnight.
Futsal’s elite global tournament, which begins on September 10, will feature whistleblowers from across the Asian continent, with representatives from East, West and Central Asia, as well as the ASEAN region set to take charge of matches.
Asia’s contribution of eight referees is bettered only by UEFA, who will provide ten, and CONMEBOL, who will contribute nine.
All eight AFC referees selected for World Cup duty were present at the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship, including Japan’s Tomohiro Kozaki, Australia’s Chris Colley and Kyrgyzstan’s Nurdin Bukuev – who took charge of the final and two semi-finals, respectively.
Bukuev is the only AFC referee on this year’s list with FIFA Futsal World Cup experience, having taken charge of matches in 2008 and 2012.
All matches at the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup will be refereed by four-man teams comprising a main referee, a second referee and two assistants.
Asia’s FIFA Futsal World Cup Referees
Khamis Hassan Al Shamsi (UAE)
Vahid Arzpeyma Mohammreh (IRN)
Nurdin Bukuev (KGZ)
Chris Colley (AUS)
Tomohiro Kozaki (JPN)
Liu Jianqiao (CHN)
Rey Ritaga Martinez ( PHI)
Trương Quốc Dũng (VIE)