Oman’s football international referees will have a busy schedule in June and July months as they will officiate some key Asian events during the months of June and July. The nomination of Omani referees to attend and officiate in these Asian events reflects of managing the biggest matches in the world football and Oman are producing top-class matches officials. Oman’s umpires managed to show top performance and positive records during their officiating in the previous championships and events. After completion of the 2022/2023 season, Oman’s umpires went under an intensive preparation program to gear up for the regional, continental and international assignments. Later, the other umpires will prepare and shape their readiness for the new season which will begin in next August.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), football governing body in Asia, nominated Oman’s international referee Omar al Yaqoobi and his international assistant Hamed al Ghafri to officiate the Matches of AFC U-17 Asian Cup which will be held in Thailand during June 15 to July 7. The junior Asian Championship is a thrilling event as it will act as the qualifiers for the Fifa U-17 World Cup which will take place in Peru in coming November. The international referee Omar selected as the main referee in the match while international umpire Hamed al Ghafri as assistant referee.
On the other side, the umpiring committee in the Oman Football Association (OFA) nominated the international referees including Yahya al Balushi and Mohammed al Ghazali to officiate in the fourth edition of the West Asian U-23 Championship which will Oman be staged in Iraq during June 12 to 20. It is expected both umpires will responsible for some matches of the event in different stages. Oman Olympic team will take part in this event as Oman are grouped alongside with Lebanon and Yemen teams in group C. The hosts Iraq are leading group A beside UAE and Jordan teams. Group B featured Palestine, Iran and Syria teams. The toppers from each group and the best second placed among the three groups will advance to the semifinals.
The international referees Yahya al Balushi and the umpire Mohammed al Maani attended in the AFC Referee Academy graduation event on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both of Omani umpires were from batch 2018 and they celebrated their graduation among other 32 referees from other AFC Member associations.
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