Abu Dhabi: With the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 kick off just hours away, Jordanian referee Adham Makhadmeh has been appointed to officiate the opening match between hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in the capital, Abu Dhabi, which will kick-off at 8pm local time.
Together with assistants and compatriots, Ahmad Moannes Al Roalle and Mohammad Mustafa Al Kalaf, he will lead the AFC’s largest-ever cast of 60 match officials of referees and assistant referees, including a trio from CONCACAF.
Makhadmeh has been a FIFA referee since 2013 and officiated in the first-leg of the 2017 AFC Champions League final between Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds.
He was also one of the Additional Assistant Referees for the deciding leg in last year’s AFC Champions League final between Persepolis and Kashima Antlers in Tehran and the AFC U23 Championship final between eventual winners Uzbekistan and Vietnam in China PR earlier in 2018.
Making his continental debut in the 2014 AFC Cup, the Jordanian is widely-regarded as one of the rising stars of Asian refereeing, having graduated from the 2007 batch of the Project Future Referees programme, which has since been replaced by the AFC Referee Academy.
Makhadmeh’s commendable performances have seen him manage several prominent international matches, which include China PR vs. Islamic Republic of Iran, Syria vs. Korea Republic and Iraq vs. UAE in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian Final Round Qualifiers.
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Source: the-afc.com