Ma Ning was reused by the AFC and will officiate the key event of the World Preliminaries, and another group of Chinese referees was appointed for the first time
The 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Qualifiers in Asia will start in the middle of this month, accompanied by a new round of competition between referees from the countries (regions) of the AFC's member associations on the World Preliminary Tournament enforcement stage. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned on the 4th that two groups of Chinese international referees have been selected to participate in the second stage of the Asian region of the World Preliminaries, that is, the second round of the round of 36. Among them, referee Ma Ning, assistant referees Zhang Cheng and Zhou Fei will go to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to enforce the Syrian team's home match against Japan on the evening of the 21st local time; Referee Shen Yinhao, assistant referee Luo Zheng and Guo Jingtao will join hands in Nepal to enforce the same round of Nepal's home match against Yemen.
According to the usual practice, FIFA and AFC will launch the collection of referees for relevant rounds 20 days or even 1 month before the start of the World Preliminary Tournament at each stage. At present, the collection of referees for the second stage of the 2026 World Preliminary Championships in Asia and the first two rounds of the round of 36 has come to an end. Taking the first two rounds of the Chinese team's round of 36 as an example, FIFA and AFC have confirmed the selection of two groups of Qatari referees (each group includes 1 referee and 2 assistant referees) to officiate the Chinese team's first round away against Thailand (16th) and the second round of home games against South Korea (21st).
Some of the registered Chinese international referees were also selected to participate in the Round of 36 competition. According to the selection results, international referee Ma Ning, international assistant referee Zhang Cheng and Zhou Fei will work together to enforce the second round of Group B Syria's home match against Japan in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the evening of the 21st local time; Another group of Chinese international referees, composed of referee Shen Yinhao, assistant referee Luo Zheng and Guo Jingtao, was selected to officiate the home match of the Nepal team against Yemen in Group H on the same day.
In fact, the World Preliminary Tournament is not only the most important international competition for the teams of FIFA's member associations, but also a stage for elite international referees registered by the member associations of major state football federations. It is understood that after the Qatar World Cup ended, the AFC also carried out a certain degree of "blood update" on the candidates for its referee elite class according to the age, resume and law enforcement needs of the referees. For example, the Qatari referee who served as the referee of the first round of the national football team against Thailand in the round of 36, the 33-year-old Farahi did not enter the AFC elite referee class until last year, and this game was the first Asian match of the World Preliminary Championship that he officiated. Prior to this game, he had also officiated in just seven international A matches.
Shen Yinhao, Luo Zheng, and Guo Jingtao also participated in the law enforcement work of the World Preliminaries for the first time. Affected by objective factors, several people have hardly participated in the real international event law enforcement work in the three years from 2020 to 2022. It was not until this year, when global football activities returned to the normal track, that they successively went to the international arena such as the Southeast Asian Football Championship and the Hangzhou Asian Games. Judging from the specific arrangements for the law enforcement of the two groups of Chinese referees, the AFC has also been carefully considered in the selection of referees, and it is quite targeted. Specifically, compared with the law enforcement work of the Nepal team vs Yemen team, the importance and difficulty of law enforcement in the Syrian team vs Japan team is much higher, and the AFC must of course select the most capable, experienced and psychologically strong referees among the elite referees currently on the roster to enforce these key games. Ma Ning is the referee of the Qatar World Cup, and Zhang Cheng and Zhou Fei have participated in the law enforcement work of top competitions such as the opening match of the Club World Cup and the final of the AFC Champions League. It is reasonable that they have been selected to conduct key law enforcement sessions.
Of course, for Shen Yinhao, Luo Zheng, and Guo Jingtao, they also need to cherish the law enforcement work of the round of 36, after all, the competition in the refereeing circle of Asian football is no less fierce than the competition between teams. Several of them should be on par with Ma Ning, Cao Yi, and Shi Xiang, the three "big brothers" who are among the referees of the Qatar World Cup, and go all out to do a good job in law enforcement of various events at this stage.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun