The AFC Referees Committee underlined its determination to elevate the development of Asia’s match officials by approving the new criteria for the AFC Member Association (MA)’s International Referees Quota for 2023 to 2024 at its third meeting held virtually on Tuesday.

Led by Chairperson His Excellency (HE) Du Zhaocai, the committee members recognised the need to continuously enhance the foundations for AFC MAs through the new criteria and also paid tribute to the Continent’s match officials for their role in the successful and safe staging of the AFC Champions League (West) Group Stage.

Chairperson HE Du said: “Asian football has managed to restart safely, and our match officials have performed well. All of them have played a big role in the success of the AFC Champions League (West) and congratulations to everyone for their great efforts.

“It is important that we continue to update our criteria for international Asian referees to ensure they maintain their world-class standards.”

Benchmarked against global best practices, the new criteria for both men and women match officials will comprise three main areas – the level of refereeing, refereeing development, and level of football. Additionally, the same principles will apply for match officials in men’s futsal competitions.

The Committee also agreed to introduce a retirement age of 65 for all AFC Referee Assessors and Instructors (Technical and Fitness) panel members. The new retirement age, which will come into effect from 2023, will enable greater succession planning while ensuring more opportunities and exposure for the Continent’s younger generation of referee assessors and instructors to develop their capabilities.

The Committee also approved the new set of criteria for the recognition of Women’s Futsal and Beach Soccer match officials to better align their achievements against the backdrop of the Women’s Futsal and Beach Soccer competitions calendar.