With reference to the current situation of the Saudi referee Mr. Fahad AL MIRDASI, the FIFA Referees Committee has considered that the conditions to be selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ are not satisfied anymore and therefore has decided that the selection of Mr. Fahad AL MIRDASI is withdrawn with immediate effect.

In line with FIFA’s overall philosophy of seeking to appoint match officials together as a team of three during the preparation,  the FIFA Referees Committee has therefore also decided to remove the two assistant referees Mohammed AL ABAKRY and Abdulah ALSHALWAI, who are in Referee AL MIRDASI’s team.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have been officially informed.

The FIFA Referees Committee has taken the decision not to directly replace Mr. AL MIRDASI. However, two assistant referees - Mr. Hasan ALMAHRI (UAE) and Mr. Hiroshi YAMAUCHI (JPN) - will be nominated for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ to work as Assistant Referees to Mohammed Mohammed ABDULLA (UAE) and Ryuji SATO (JPN) respectively, who have already been appointed to officiate at the tournament.