Alireza Faghani ( fa, عليرضا فغانى; born 21 March 1978) is an Iranian international football referee who has been officiating in the

Persian Gulf Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

for several seasons and has been on the FIFA list since 2008. Faghani has refereed important matches such as the

2014 AFC Champions League Final The 2014 AFC Champions League Final was the final of the 2014 AFC Champions League, the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champion ...

, the

2015 AFC Asian Cup Final The 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final was a football match which took place on 31 January 2015 at the Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, to determine the winner of 2015 AFC Asian Cup. It was played between South Korea and hosts Australia. Australia ...

, the

2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final The 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final was the final match of the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup, an association football tournament hosted by Japan. It was the 12th final of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised tournament between the winners of the six ...

, the 2016 Olympic football final match. He has refereed matches in the 2017 Liga 1,

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia,

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 F ...

in UAE and the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...

in Qatar. Alireza migrated to Australia to referee for Australia A-League in September 2019.

Early life

He was born on 21 March 1978 in

Kashmar Kashmar () ( fa, کاشمر, also Romanized as ''Kāshmar''; formerly ''Keshmar'', '' Torshīz'' or ''Soltanabad'') is a city and the capital of Kashmar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Kashmar is located near the river Shesh Tara ...

, a city near

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...

. His nickname is ''Behrooz'' (). His father, Mohammad Faghani () was also a football referee. He has a younger brother named Mohammadreza, who referees in Sweden. Faghani was part of the youth team of

Bank Melli Bank Melli Iran (BMI; fa, بانک ملی ایران, lit=National Bank of Iran, ''Bânk-e Melli-ye Irân'') is the first national and commercial retail bank of Iran. It is considered as the largest Iranian company in terms of annual income with ...

, and also played for Shahab Khodro,

Etka ETKA is the official electronic parts catalogue for Volkswagen Group motor vehicles. Launched in 1989, ETKA superseded the older parts books and microfilm-based catalogues. ETKA is an abbreviation from the german: Elektronischer Teilekatalog. It ...

, and Niroye Zamini. He also played in Iran's

League 2 The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

which is the third tier in the Iranian football pyramid. However, in the end he decided to be a football referee.

Refereeing career

Faghani became a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

referee in 2008, only a year after officiating in the top flight league in Iran. After becoming a FIFA referee Faghani has moved up the ladder really fast especially in Asia. After only one year of international experience Faghani took charge of the 2009 AFC President's Cup Final which was played between

Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda ( Tajiki: Регар-ТадАЗ Турсунзода клуби футболи), ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال ریگر-تداز تورسون‌زاده), is a Tajik professional football club based in Tursunzoda, that ...

and

Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn Football Club Dordoi Bishkek ('' ky, Дордой Бишкек Футбол Клубу, Dordoj Bişkek Futbol Klubu'') is a Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz professional association football, football club based in Bishkek, that competes in the Kyrgyz Premier ...

which was won 2–0 by the hosts. A year later he was again in charge of a final but this time it was a much more important final in the

2010 AFC Challenge Cup The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup was the third edition of the tournament which was held from 16–27 February 2010 in Sri Lanka. India, the defending champions, fielded their under-23 team for this tournament in preparation for the 2010 Asian Game ...

where the winner qualified for the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

. He gave a red card to the North Korean defender in the 32nd minute but

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

went on to defeat

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

in penalties. He was named as the fourth referee for the opening match of the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

between

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. He also refereed the

2014 AFC Champions League The 2014 AFC Champions League was the 33rd edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 12th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande were the defen ...

Final first leg match between Al-Hilal and

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. He is also one of the officials of the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 201 ...

, refereeing his first match in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

between

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

that ended 0–1. Faghani awarded Saudi Arabia a penalty kick but Naif Hazazi missed it. He was appointed to referee the

, which was contested by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Faghani was the referee in the

between

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Núñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la ...

and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. He was also the referee in the

2016 Indian Super League Final The 2016 Indian Super League Final was a football match between ATK and Kerala Blasters on 18 December 2016 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, Kerala. It was the final match of the 2016 Indian Super League season, the third season of ...

between

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

and ATK. Perhaps the most important match in which he was the main referee was the 2016 Olympic football final match between host Brazil and Germany. Faghani was referee in six matches of the 2017 Liga 1 in Indonesia and two matches of the

in Russia. Faghani was appointed to be a referee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. After the conclusion of the round of 16, it was announced that Faghani was one of 17 referees who had been selected to be assigned matches for the remainder of the tournament. He was also referee of the

2018 AFF Championship The 2018 AFF Championship was the 12th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 6th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup. This was the first time a new format has ...

final between Vietnam – Malaysia in its 2nd leg. On 5 December 2018, it was announced that Faghani had been appointed to referee at the

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

. In 2019 he and his family migrated from Iran to

, and he was subsequently signed on by the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

to the full time match official panel. in 4 January 2023, The FIFA website published the list of international referees, assistant referees and video assistant referees for all countries of the world, and Alireza Faghani's name is seen in the list of international referees of Australia for 2023 as one of the 12 main referees of this country.

Matches

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

Statistics

''Source:'' ''worldfootball.net''

Honours

* Iranian Referee of the Year: 2011, 2015, 2017 * Asian Referee of the Year: 2016, 2018

References

External links

Alireza Faghani
at RateTheRef.net * * * *
Alireza Faghani {{DEFAULTSORT:Faghani, Alireza Iranian football referees Living people 1978 births 2018 FIFA World Cup referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup referees People from Kashmar Football referees at the 2016 Summer Olympics AFC Asian Cup referees A-League Men referees