On September 2, the drums are about to beat for the Qatar World Qualification Asian Zone 12 tournament. According to the latest announcement of the AFC Referee Committee, a list of referees for the 12-team tournament that has attracted a lot of attention has been released. In this list, the Chinese Football Association of several world-class referees Ma Ning, Fu Ming, Zhang Lei, Shen Yinhao's name is listed. If they are fortunate enough to be entrusted with the responsibility, they will further show their elegance in the top court of Asian soccer, and charge for the interests of our country's soccer.
Six world-class referees from China's soccer federation named in preliminary list of referees for Top 12 matches
As the Top 12 draws near, the AFC usually finalizes the list of referees about a month before the tournament. It is worth mentioning that this year's Top 12 will introduce VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology for the first time, which will undoubtedly significantly increase the requirements for referees.
Beiqing-Beijing headline reporter learned from the AFC on August 14th that the AFC referee committee recently selected a group of referees with stable and outstanding performance in the past two years from the existing elite referee team to form an alternative lineup of referees for the Top 12 matches. A total of six registered referees of our Football Association received the invitation to be called up by AFC. These include 4 referees with the qualifications of referee, fourth official and VAR referee, namely, Ma Ning, Fu Ming, Zhang Lei and Shen Yinhao. Two world-class assistant referees, Shi Xiang and Cao Yi, are also included.
Fu Ming (c. 14th century BC), legendary sage and principal minister of Shang ruler Wu Ding
This result was expected. Prior to this, Maning and Fu Ming have traveled to Qatar and other places to enforce the West Asia Region of the AFC Champions League this season. Fu Ming also participated in the legal work for some of the matches in the men's and women's soccer main rounds of the Tokyo Olympics as a world VAR referee. He returned to Beijing from Tokyo on August 6 and is still under medical quarantine observation in accordance with epidemic prevention regulations.
AFC Elite Referee Fontaine Enforces Top 12 Matches
Zhang Lei and Shen Yinhao are also AFC elite referees, and making the list has become a routine for them. Of the seven world-class referees on the roster of China's Football Association, Wang Di, Jin Jingyuan and Li Haixin failed to make the list for different reasons. Wang Di, as an AFC Elite Referee, is also an excellent referee who has been very recognized by the AFC in recent years. However, in the first half of this year, as one of the members of the working group for the preparation of the national football team for the Top 40, he has been assisting the FA in providing technical support to the national football team regarding refereeing work. For example, as an expert, he has repeatedly explained to the national football team the essence of the latest world penalty rules, introduced to the national football team the enforcement characteristics of the referees they may encounter, and so on. He has also accompanied the national soccer team to the United Arab Emirates to participate in the Top 40 matches. Because Wang Di is now an important person in charge of the refereeing work of the Shanghai Football Association, he has been busy with the work of his organization since he returned to China with the delegation of the national football team in the middle of June and underwent the quarantine observation, and thus missed the first stage of the Chinese Super League law enforcement work.
Kim Kyung Won is now an AFC Alternate Elite Referee and he was not selected as he was only promoted to World Class Referee this year. Li Haixin is the only world-class referee among the seven who has not yet entered the AFC elite referee (including alternative) category. The referees participating in major tournaments such as the Asian Cup and the World Cup must be elite referees according to the regulations of the AFC Sanctioning Committee.
The ability to enforce the 12-team tournament is affected by objective factors
As a result of the epidemic, the ability of several registered world referees of our Football Association to enforce the 12-team tournament as they wish is still subject to various objective factors. For example, whether the referee's unit can authorize them to take leave, international travel, and the relevant member associations of the country (region) personnel entry and exit management rules. And the Chinese team to face a long time outside the closed concentration, training, the same game, once a few of China's football federation on the list of world-class referees agreed to participate in the 12 strong law enforcement, then also likely to face a long time outside the law enforcement, life, which undoubtedly constitutes a huge challenge and test for them.
Manning (name)
As reflected by the AFC, Ma Ning and Fu Ming are expected to participate as the main referees in the first and second rounds of the 12-team tournament. Zhang Lei, if he is able to participate, will likely enforce the law as a VAR referee. There is still uncertainty about Shen Yinhao, and his ability to enforce the 12-team tournament will depend on his organization's opinion and other factors. As for the two world-class assistant referees, Cao Yi and Shi Xiang, they have previously traveled to West Asia to enforce the AFC Champions League along with Manning and Fu Ming, so there is not much of a problem for them to participate in the enforcement of this 12-team tournament.
