At 23:00 Beijing time on September 7, the Chinese national team will face the "seeded team" Japan in the second round of the Asian qualifying round of 12 matches. Before the match, FIFA unveiled the referee for the match, 44-year-old Bahraini referee Nawaf Shukla will be in charge of this summit match between China and Japan. [
] Shukla has been a FIFA referee since 2007, and has enforced many major tournaments including the World Cup, World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Asian Cup, U17 World Cup, U20 World Cup, Asian Champions League, and was even invited to referee the Chinese Super League.In November 2015, he witnessed the national soccer team away from Hong Kong in the Top 40 match in a 0-0 handshake, in which Yu Dabao's goal was disallowed, sparking widespread discussion. It is worth mentioning that Shukla has faced Japan three times in his past enforcement career. In these three encounters, the Japanese team only achieved a win and two draws, specifically: in November 2011, the Japanese team to 0-1 defeat against North Korea; in June 2013, Japan and Australia 1-1 draw; in October 2016, the Japanese team again with Australia 1-1 scoreline to shake hands and draw. In addition, the two assistant referees for the match, Salman and Abdullah, were both from Bahrain, while Sri Lanka's Perera took on the role of fourth official.
