The Referees Committee of the Gulf Football Association announced the appointments of the refereeing crews charged with managing the matches of the fourth day of the “Gulf Arab Diyar 27” tournament, scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, September 27, within the second round of the second group competitions, which includes the teams of the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Yemen.
The twenty-seventh edition of the Gulf Cup will be held in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the period from September 23 to October 6, 2026, under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, with the participation of eight teams competing in 15 matches.
The Referees Committee assigned the management of the Yemen-Qatar match, which is being held at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, to the Jordanian referee, Adham Makhamma, and he is assisted by his compatriots Muhammad Al-Khalaf and Ahmed Al-Ruwaili, while the Iraqi Zaid Thamer assumes the task of the fourth official.
In the video assistant referee (VAR) technique, the Saudi Sultan Al-Harbi was appointed as the video referee, and the Chinese Fu Ming was appointed as the assistant video referee, while the Emirati Hamad Al Mazrouei assumed the role of referee evaluator.
As for the second match, which brings together Bahrain and the Emirates at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium, the committee assigned its management to the Kuwaiti referee, Abdullah Jamali, and he is assisted by his compatriots Saud Al-Shamali and Ali Talib Jarraq, while the Portuguese Joao Pinheiro assumes the task of the fourth official.
In the video assistant referee (VAR) technique, the Saudi Abdullah Al Shehri was appointed as a video referee, and the Kuwaiti Abdullah Arab was appointed as an assistant video referee, while the Omani Ibrahim Al Hosani assumed the role of referee evaluator.
These appointments come within the refereeing program for the twenty-seventh edition of the tournament, which witnesses the participation of an elite group of Gulf referees alongside international referees from outside the region, as part of the Gulf Football Association’s direction towards enhancing the exchange of experiences and benefiting from different refereeing schools and experiences.
The tournament also witnesses the participation of referees from Morocco within the framework of the cooperation agreement signed between the Gulf Football Association and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), along with referees from Jordan, China, the Netherlands and Portugal, which enhances the exchange of international experiences and contributes to the development of the tournament’s refereeing system.
Before the start of the tournament, the referees participating in managing the “Gulf of Arabia 27” competitions had undergone a preparatory camp in Jeddah, which included theoretical sessions, practical training, and programs to raise physical and technical readiness, in addition to specialized training on Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, with the aim of enhancing coordination between the refereeing crews and reaching the highest levels of readiness to manage the tournament matches.