PETALING JAYA: Some Qatari flavour to spruce up the final.
The Malaysia Cup final between Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) and Kuching City at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil this Saturday will be overseen by an experienced team of match officials from Qatar with extensive exposure at both international and domestic top-flight levels.
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced yesterday that FIFA international referee Mohammed Ahmed Al-Shammari will head the four-man officiating crew for the showpiece final.
He will be assisted by Yousuf Aref Al-Shamari as assistant referee one and Khaled Aiad Khalaf as assistant referee two, while Meshari Ali Alshamari has been appointed as the video assistant referee (VAR).
All four officials are recognised as FIFA International Referees and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) elite referees, with experience officiating in the Qatar Stars League as well as major AFC and FIFA competitions.
According to the Qatar Football Association (QFA), Al-Shamari has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2019 and is among the officials regularly entrusted with matches in Qatar’s top-tier professional league.
He has also officiated in regional and international assignments under the AFC banner.
FAM said the quartet are no strangers to high-pressure fixtures, having previously handled major tournaments including the FIFA Under-17 World Cup and the Qatar Emir Cup final.
