Alireza Faghani

He was born on 21 March 1978 in Kashmar, a city near Mashhad. His nickname is Behrooz (بهروز). His father, Mohammad Faghani (محمد فغانی) 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, and also played for Shahab Khodro, Etka, and Niroye Zamini. He also played in Iran's League 2 which is the third tier in the Iranian football pyramid. However, in the end he decided to be a football referee.

Faghani became a FIFA 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 and Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn which was won 2–0 by the hosts.[1] 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 where the winner qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. He gave a red card to the North Korean defender in the 32nd minute but North Korea went on to defeat Turkmenistan in penalties.[2]

He was named as the fourth referee for the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Brazil and Croatia.[3] He also refereed the 2014 AFC Champions League Final first leg match between Al-Hilal and Western Sydney Wanderers. He is also one of the officials of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, refereeing his first match in Group B between Saudi Arabia and China that ended 0–1. Faghani awarded Saudi Arabia a penalty kick but Naif Hazazi missed it.

He was appointed to referee the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final, which was contested by South Korea and Australia. Faghani was the referee in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final between Club Atlético River Plate and FC Barcelona. He was also the referee in the 2016 Indian Super League Final between Kerala Blasters and ATK.[4] 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 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

Faghani was appointed to be a referee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[5] 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.[6]

He was also referee of the 2018 AFF Championship final between Vietnam – Malaysia in its 2nd leg. On 5 December 2018, it was announced that Faghani had been appointed to referee at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.[7]

In 2019 he and his family migrated from Iran to Australia, and he was subsequently signed on by the A-League to the full time match official panel.

On 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.[8]

Tournaments	Constester	Years	Matches		Average		Average
FIFA World Cup	FIFA	2018; 2022	6	26	4.5	0	0.00
FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)	FIFA	2011–	11	39	3.54	0	0.00
FIFA Confederations Cup	FIFA	2017	2	11	5.50	0	0.00
Summer Olympics	IOC–FIFA	2016	3	9	3.00	0	0.00
Friendlies	FIFA	2014-	9	33	3.67	1	0.11
AFC Asian Cup	AFC	2015; 2019	6	27	4.50	0	0.00
AFC Asian Cup qualification	AFC	2015	2	6	3.00	0	0.00
FIFA U-20 World Cup	FIFA	2013	2	6	3.00	0	0.00
FIFA Club World Cup	FIFA	2012; 2013; 2015	4	18	4.50	1	0.06
AFC Champions League	AFC	2010–2018	40	158	3.95	4	0.10
AFC Champions League qualification	AFC	2011	1	3	3.00	0	0.00
Indian Super League	AIFF	2016	1	3	3.00	0	0.00
Liga 1	IFLS	2017	6	14	2.33	1	0.17
Persian Gulf Pro League	FFIRI	2007–Present	?	?	?	?	?
Hazfi Cup	FFIRI	2015–2016	?	?	?	?	?
Azadegan League	FFIRI	2000–2008	?	?	?	?	?
Totals		2010–	91	345	3.79	7	0.08
Matches as referee are correct as of 18 January 2019

Source: worldfootball.net[9]

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alireza Faghani.

• Alireza Faghani Archived 26 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine at RateTheRef.net
• Alireza Faghani at WorldReferee.com
• Alireza Faghani referee profile at WorldFootball.net
• Alireza Faghani referee profile at Soccerway
• Alireza Faghani refereeing career statistics at Soccerbase