Abdulrahman al-Jassim will be the referee for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 third-place playoff between Croatia and Morocco tomorrow. Qatar’s al-Jassim will be assisted by compatriots Taleb al-Marri and Saoud Ahmed al-Maqaled at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
It will be the trio’s second match at Qatar 2022, having officiated the Group B tie between the United States and Wales on November 21. Al-Jassim, 35, created history then by becoming the first Qatar referee to officiate a FIFA World Cup Finals match. Al-Jassim was the fourth official for the Group H tie between Portugal and Uruguay.
He made his FIFA World Cup debut at Russia 2018 as a video match official. For al-Jassim, who started his career in 2007 and rose through the ranks in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since then, Qatar 2022 is a special assignment. “I am very happy to represent AFC and Qatar and to be one of the referees at Qatar 2022. This appointment will be a responsibility for me to have good performance,” al-Jassim, who became a FIFA referee in 2013, had said.
Al-Jassim said he had gone through a lot of preparation for the World Cup challenge, praising the AFC and Qatar Football Association (QFA) for their support. “My preparation started when I heard about my appointment. I stayed with Qatar Football Association and AFC. They put for me, the plan to be ready for the World Cup 2022. The referee department, they did everything to prepare me and started the development courses,” he said.
Praising AFC’s educational programmes, al-Jassim said AFC referees deserved to be in the World Cup finals. “If you remember 2018, our referee officiated quarter-final and third-fourth place play-off. That means our referees deserve to be in Qatar 2022,” he said.
The Qatari referee has officiated in the AFC Champions League 2020 final, FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 final as well as the CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals. He was also the part of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 and took charge of the AFC Cup final in 2018. Additionally, al-Jassim was in charge AFC Asian Qualifiers since 2021.
