On the sidelines of the World Cup unveiling ceremony, Alireza Faghani, Iran’s international football referee said: “I am happy that we are one of the countries that have hosted this event and can take advantage of this opportunity. I hope this World Cup will be successful so that we can advance to the next round.”

“Our goal is to referee the Qatar FIFA World Cup final.

The most celebrated and successful Iranian international referee commented on his attendance of referees VAR system qualification: “I, along with my assistants, are the only Iranian referees who passed the course related to the use of video assistant referees VAR.
Regarding his refereeing in the domestic Premier League, he stated: “I can confirm that there have been negotiations in order for us to be available in the Premier League competitions and continue our activities.”

Faghani emphasized the need for VAR in the Premier League: If VAR comes with the current mindset, then nothing will change. When the mentalities and structure are not changed, problems will definitely remain in the league, and if some behaviors and thoughts are not corrected, this process and persistent protests to refereeing will continue.”

On the performance of young referees, he commented:” Just as the teams are focusing on youth, the refereeing community has also added some young referees. They make mistakes like veteran referees, but the point is that coaches need to treat young referees differently. These referees should be given a chance to express themselves.”