Japanese referee set to take charge of upcoming UAE tie

Of the group, Jumpei Iida will serve as the match referee.

Iida will be a familiar face to many fans of Vietnamese football having previously taken charge of Vietnam’s 1-0 victory against Thailand in the King’s Cup in June this year.

In addition, the Japanese referee also took charge of Hanoi FC’s fixture against Thanh Hoa FC in the V-League back in 2017.

Having first qualified as a FIFA referee in 2011, Iida has gained plenty of experience in many regional Asian tournaments, including the AFC Champions League, the Asian Cup, and several World Cup 2018 qualifiers in the Asian region.

The AFC also announced that, following the UAE tie, a team of referees from Oman have been appointed to officiate Vietnam’s clash against Thailand. The crunch match will take place at Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium on November 19 with Ahmed Al-Kaf to serve as the match referee.

Al-Kaf took charge of two games involving the Vietnamese team in the AFC U23 Championship 2018 finals, including the games against Syria in the group stages and Uzbekistan in the finals.

In the Asian Cup 2019 finals, Al-Kaf was the referee as Vietnam beat Yemen 2-0 in the qualifying round.