The FIFA Referees Committee has appointed 52 match officials (12 referees, 24 assistant referees and 16 video match officials) from 27 countries and all six confederations to officiate the first FIFA Arab Cup, to be held in Qatar.
The tournament will kick off November 30 with the match between Tunisia and Mauritania at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium. Hosts Qatar will open their campaign on the same day against Bahrain at the Al Bayt Stadium. The inaugural FIFA Arab Cup will conclude with the final on December 18, also at Al Bayt.
Among the appointed Arab referees are Qatar’s Abdullah al-Marri, Egypt’s Ibrahim Nour El-Din, and Morocco’s Radwan Gayed, all of whom were selected among the video referees.
The appointed match officials will be closely monitored before and during the competition by a team of technical specialists, including FIFA referee and video match official instructors, fitness coaches, physiotherapists, and sports scientists, in order to provide the referees, assistant referees and video match officials with the best possible preparation and support.
The tournament, which will include the use of VAR technology, represents another important step on the road to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 for the match officials involved.
Besides Al Bayt and Ahmad Bin Ali, Ras Abu Aboud, Al Thumama, Education City and Al Janoub stadiums, all built from scratch in preparation for 2022, complete the line-up of magnificent FIFA Arab Cup venues.
Twenty-three national teams were invited to participate, with seven out of 14 advancing from the round of qualifying matches to meet hosts Qatar and the eight highest-ranked nations, who qualified directly. The 16 teams will now compete in a group stage followed by knockout matches, making for a total of 32 games played over 19 days.      
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