Taqi Jahari appointed referee for both men’s & women’s World Cup

SINGAPORE — Singapore football referee Taqi Jahari, who was a video assistant referee in last year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, has again been appointed by the world football governing body as a video match official at this year’s Women’s World Cup.

Taqi will be the first Singaporean to serve as an officiator in the men’s or women’s World Cups. After Abirami Naidu, he will be the second official from Singapore to referee the Women’s World Cup.

FIFA made the announcement of the match official appointments in a media release on Monday (9 January), with its referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina saying, “The criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected on-field match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide.

“From the selected referees, we expect a rigorous and focused preparation for the Women’s World Cup.”

The Women’s World Cup will have 33 referees, 55 assistant refees, and 19 video match officials. It will take place in Australia and New Zealand between 20 July and 20 August. Taqi is also the sole Southeast Asian referee.

The 36-year-old Taqi, a Singaporean, was one of 129 officials chosen for the 64-match Qatar World Cup. He also served as one of the 24 officials who used the video assistant referee system (VAR).

As an assistant VAR referee, he served in three games: Tunisia’s win over France (1-0), Spain’s win over Costa Rica (7-0) and Brazil’s win over Serbia (2-0). He was also a support VAR in the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw with Ecuador and Argentina’s 2-0 win over Mexico.

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