AFC - In a move to improve the quality of refereeing in Asia, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has brought together a group of 43 referees (list as attached) to AFC House in Kuala Lumpur for a 3-day course.

The 3-day course looks to introduce new ideas, concepts and advanced skills to the referees which will give them the best possible opportunities to perform at the highest level. Instructors for this course include General Farouk Bouzo, Chairman AFC Referees Committee, Mohd Nazri Abdullah, member of the AFC Referees Committee and Gary Douglass Power, AFC Director of Referees.

This 43, members of the elite group of referees, have been specifically selected following their performances in the year 2004. Only referees in this elite group will be allowed to officiate in AFC competitions in 2005 which includes the FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup as well as the AFC youth events.

“Before we had a huge list of referees and with the limited number of matches available, our referees can only officiate between3 to 4 matches a year. This is insufficient match practice for our referees to improve. Now, with only 43 referees for all of our matches, these referees will have more chances to develop and discover themselves,?said AFC President, Mohamed bin Hammam.

Further, Hammam added that the performances of Asian referees last year left much to be desired and this was also a key factor in AFC’s decision to minimize the list of elite referees to only 43.

“Our national teams and clubs have paid a lot of attention to player and team development. They have invested a lot of money. But in the end, there were instances last season when the team lost, not because of their mistakes but due to the incompetence of the man in black. For us, this was a warning. We need to invest in our referees and increase their level, just as much as the national associations and clubs are doing with their teams,?Hammam continued.

Most of all, the AFC supremo stressed that the 43 elite referees need to prove to the rest of the world that Asian referees are on par with the best. AFC will be monitoring very closely the performances of these elite referees and at the end of 2005, will issue a new list of elite referees for 2006.