The Iranian referees who will be at the World Cup 2022

90Min – DOHA, Iran will not just be represented by their national team at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The Asian country will also have one referee and two assistant referees at the tournament and depending on the size of the games they are given, it can be an extra source of pride for the country.

It is not something that fans tend to consider until the time comes, but there was certainly a lot of English interest in Howard Webb’s performance when he was handed the 2010 World Cup final.

Iran have been drawn in Group B along with England, Wales and the USA, making it a fascinating group from a geopolitical perspective.

Here’s a background of Iran’s three officials at the 2022 World Cup.

1. Alireza Faghani

Alireza Faghani is a very experienced referee who is no stranger to major international tournaments.

He became a FIFA referee back in 2008 after only officiating in the Iranian top flight for one season, and was selected to be a referee at the 2018 World Cup in Russia – where he officiated Germany vs Mexico and Serbia vs Brazil in the group stages.

Testament to his ability, he was then chosen to be one of the 17 referees who would continue and referee the latter stages. He then did the dramatic France 4-3 Argentina game in the Round of 16 and officiated England’s third-place play-off game against Belgium.

Faghani has experience at multiple Club World Cups, Asian Cups, the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 Confederations Cup where he refereed a semi-final.

2. Mohammadreza Abolfazli (Assistant Referee)

Mohammadreza Abolfazli has not actually worked at a World Cup before, meaning this is a very big moment for the 45-year-old Iranian.

He predominantly plies his trade in the Persian Gulf Pro League which is the top flight of Iranian football.

Internationally, he has been part of three World Cup qualification games, 13 Asian Champions League matches, as well as four games at the AFC Asian Cup back in 2015.

Abolfazli may not be someone FIFA are expecting to carry into the latter rounds of the tournament but he will be thrilled to be at his first World Cup.

3. Mohammadreza Mansouri (Assistant Referee)

Much of Mohammadreza Mansouri’s career as an assistant referee has been the same as Alireza Faghani as he has been part of the same refereeing team.

The pair were together for all of Faghani’s aforementioned matches at the 2018 World Cup, as well as the two matches at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

As a main referee, he took charge of Japan vs Turkmenistan in the group stage of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and the Round of 16 match between Jordan and Vietnam.