“Foreign Whistle” is nominated to appear 3 times in the 13th round

The matches of the first round of the ADNOC Professional Football League will conclude during the 13th round, which will be held on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of this month. This round will witness strong and important confrontations, including three “summits” nominated for the presence of the foreign whistle in it, the first of which is the Al-Ahly and Al-Jazira youth summit scheduled for the 21st of this month. Rashid Stadium, as well as the confrontation between Al Ain and Al Nasr on the same day at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, and the third summit meeting brings together Al Wasl, the defending champion, and Al Sharjah, in Zabeel Stadium on the 22nd of this month.

It is expected that the rest of the matches of the 13th round will be free of foreign whistles, as Khor Fakkan will play against Ajman, Ittihad Kalba will play against Bani Yas, Al-Oruba will play against Dibba Al-Hisn, and Al-Wahda will play against Al-Bataeh.

Despite the high financial cost of using a foreign referee, which is 170 thousand dirhams for the refereeing team per match, many clubs in the league, especially those competing for the league title, attract “stadium judges” from abroad to manage their matches.

The foreign whistle has appeared so far in five matches in the league championship, starting with the match between Al-Wasl and Al-Nasr in the third round, which was officiated by German referee Felix Zwier, and the match between Shabab Al-Ahly and Al-Wahda in the same round, which was officiated by Polish referee Danny Simond Makele, and the match between Al-Ain and Al-Wasl in the fourth round. Which was refereed by French referee Clement Turpin, and the match between Al Ain and Al Wahda in the fifth round, which was officiated by Italian referee Davide Massa, and finally the match between Al Ain and Sharjah in the eleventh round, which was officiated by the referee. Mexican Cesar Ramos.

The current edition of the league is witnessing a fierce race between the big teams to win the title.

This is the fourth season that has witnessed the presence of a foreign whistle in the league.

Turkish referee Cüneyt Cakir is the first foreign referee to appear in the UAE League, as he officiated the match between Shabab Al-Ahly and Al-Jazira in the seventh round of the 2021-2022 season.

For his part, former international football referee Abdullah Al-Ajel said that he expects the 13th round to witness the appearance of more than one foreign referee, especially since this round is important matches that are considered “breaking a bone,” especially the match between Shabab Al-Ahly and Al-Jazira, and the match between Al-Ain and Al-Nasr, as well as Al-Wasl and Sharjah. These matches will determine the characteristics of the teams that will continue to compete.

Al-Ajel added to Emirates Al-Youm: “There are teams that believe that attracting a foreign referee takes away psychological pressure from their players, so they prefer to use him.”

He added: “Some players, technical and administrative staff accept the presence of a foreign referee in their matches more than they accept the local referee, even if there are errors by the foreign referee, and this matter is merely a psychological state. We also note that the reactions to refereeing errors that occur in matches are… “More severe towards citizen governance.”

Al-Ajel continued: “Recent periods have witnessed great excellence for a number of citizen referees, including referee Ahmed Salem Khalfan, despite the criticism he faced, but there are clubs that use the foreign whistle, especially in large and sensitive matches for them.”

He concluded: “The referee is the first peg on which some clubs attach their failure in the event of a loss.”