Al Ghamdi appointed for Gulf Cup 2013 final

Saudi-Arabian official Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi has been selected to take charge of Friday's 2013 Gulf Cup final, when the UA Emirates will meet Iraq. The match will be kicked off at Bahrain's National Stadium in Riffa at 17:45. 

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The 42-year old teacher will be accompanied by his countrymen Abdulaziz Al Asmari and Abdullah Al Shalawi. It's his second match at this competition after having taken control over the Group A encounter between the UA Emirates and Qatar.

Khalil Al Ghamdi already attended two World Cups in his career, having been a standby official at 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany and having been an active referee at 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, where he - among others - appeared in the Group Stage matches Mexico - France and Chile - Switzerland as well as in the quarterfinal between Brazil and the Netherlands as fourth official. 

A third World Cup participation is possible, since Al Ghamdi is belonging to the prospective list of referees for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Qatar's Banjar Al Dosari will handle the Match for the Third Place between Kuwait and the tournament's hosting nation Bahrain.

Nishimura and Rasulov honoured as Asia's best

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Top Japanese official Yuichi Nishimura has ended Ravshan Irmatov's dominance of the AFC Referee of the Year award after claiming the individual accolade ahead of the four-time winner from Uzbekistan and Iran's Alireza Faghani.

Nishimura's quality shone through when he was entrusted with the potentially explosive second-leg of the 2012 AFC Champions League semi-final between arch-Jeddah rivals Al Ahli and Al Ittihad in what was his third appointment in this year's edition of Asia's premier club competition. In another highlight of 2012 Nishimura was also involved in the Olympic Games, with the 40-year-old officiating the group stage fixtures between Brazil and Belarus and hosts Great Britain and Uruguay, while the two-time J.League Referee of the Year also took charge of two matches in the final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup as well as a Round 3 qualifier for the London Games. 

"Personally I am emotional and thank AFC for recognizing the hard work we put on in the field. Refereeing is one of the toughest jobs but I love it and fully committed to it," said Nishimura after receiving the AFC Referee of the Year award from Dato' Worawi Makudi, Chairman of the AFC Referees Committee (photo).

"This award is dedicated to all the referees working in Asia who put their heart into officiating this beautiful game of football. Asian referees are top class and it's not only just a few of us as there are several referees who are on top of their game in. In fact, in football we are behind Europe and may be other continents but not in refereeing. It's nice to finally win this trophy but believe me I really respect Ravshan Irmatov who is one of the best referees in the world. But I repeat again there is a huge pool of fantastic referees in Asia".

These are the complete rankings:

Men's Best Referees:

1. Yuichi Nishimura (JPN)

2. Ravshan Irmatov (UZB)

3. Alireza Faghani (IRN)

Men's Best Assistant Referees:

1. Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (UZB)

2. Bakhadyr Kochkarov (KGZ)

3. Matthew Cream (AUS)

Women's Best Referees:

1. Sachiko Yamagishi (JPN)

2. Ri Hyang Ok (PRK)

3. Qin Liang (CHN)

Women's Best Referees:

1. Kim Kyoung Min (KOR)

2. Widiya Shamsuri (MAS)

3. Cui Yongmei (CHN)

source: AFC

Australian Benjamin Williams in charge of AFC Champions League Final

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Contrary to previously issued news in diverse forms of media which said Bahraini Nawaf Shukralla would have been in charge of this year's AFC Champions League final, AFC has appointed Aussie Benjamin Jon Williams (r.) of Canberra to take control over Saturday's clash between Hyundai Ulsan (KOR) and Al Ahli (KSA). 

The 1977 born teacher from the Australian capital will be accompanied by Luke Brennan and Paul Cetrangolo as assistant referees, while Stebre Delovski will function as fourth official.

Williams, currently being on the short list for 2014 FIFA World Cup, also acted at 2012 Olympic Games where he oversaw two matches (Mexico - Gabon and Spain - Morocco). 

His common assistant referees, Matthew Cream and Hakan Anaz, who are normally accompanying him, also on the prospective World Cup list, are absent due to a FIFA meeting at Zurich that is attended by assistant referees from AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and OFC zone.