Alireza Faghani

Alireza Faghani (Persian: عليرضا فغانى; born 21 March 1978) is an Iranian-Australian international football referee and former player, who has been on the international referees list for FIFA since 2008.

Faghani has officiated in the Persian Gulf Pro League for several seasons until 2022, important matches such as the 2014 AFC Champions League final, the 2015 AFC Asian Cup final, the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup final, the 2016 Summer Olympics football final match, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final. He has refereed matches in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2019 AFC Asian Cup, 2022 FIFA World Cup, 2023 AFC Asian Cup, AFC Champions League, AFC Champions League Two and AFC Challenge League.

Faghani had migrated from Iran to Australia in September 2019, and now referees in the A-League Men, and as an Australian referee in international tournaments since 2023.

Early life

Faghani was born on 21 March 1978 in Kashmar, a city near Mashhad. His nickname is Behrooz (بهروز). His father, Mohammad Faghani (محمد فغانی) was also a football referee. He has a younger brother named Mohammadreza, who referees in Sweden.

Playing career

Faghani was part of the youth team of Bank Melli, and also played for Shahab Khodro, Etka, and Niroye Zamini. He also played in Iran's League 2, the third tier of Iranian football.

Refereeing career

Faghani became a FIFA referee in 2008, only a year after officiating in the top flight league in Iran. After only one year of international experience Faghani took charge of the 2009 AFC President's Cup Final which was played between Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda and Dordoi-Dynamo Naryn which was won 2–0 by the hosts. A year later he was again in charge of a final in the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup.

He was named as the fourth referee for the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Brazil and Croatia. He also refereed the 2014 AFC Champions League Final first leg match between Al-Hilal and Western Sydney Wanderers. He was also one of the officials of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, refereeing his first match in Group B between Saudi Arabia and China that ended 0–1.

Faghani refereed the 2009 Bangladesh Super Cup final between Dhaka Mohammedan and Dhaka Abahani on 27 March 2009.

He was appointed to referee the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final, which was contested by South Korea and Australia. Faghani was the referee in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final between Club Atlético River Plate and FC Barcelona. He was also the referee in the 2016 Indian Super League final between Kerala Blasters and ATK. Faghani reffed the 2016 Olympic football final match between host Brazil and Germany.

Faghani was referee in six matches of the 2017 Liga 1 in Indonesia and two matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

Faghani was appointed to be a referee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. After the conclusion of the round of 16, it was announced that Faghani was one of 17 referees who had been selected to be assigned matches for the remainder of the tournament.

He was also referee of the 2018 AFF Championship final between Vietnam – Malaysia in its 2nd leg. On 5 December 2018, it was announced that Faghani had been appointed to referee at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2019 he and his family migrated from Iran to Australia, and he was subsequently signed on by the A-League to the full time match official panel. Since 2023, he is on the FIFA list of international referees from Australia. Faghani's decision to represent Australia was believed to be linked to his support for the Mahsa Amini protests, which resulted in the FFIRI delisting Faghani as an Iranian referee in retaliation.

In 2024, Faghani was selected to referee the 2023 AFC Asian Cup opener, representing Australia. During Jordan's 3–2 win over Iraq in the round of 16, Faghani controversially gave Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein a second yellow card for his goal celebration in the 76th minute. Hussein did not remove his jersey — the most common act in football that incurs a yellow card for "excessive celebration" — nor did he leave the field of play, which is in fact what the Jordanian players did earlier. He was also neither in the line of sight of any of his Jordanian opponents, nor were any of the Jordanian players visibly offended. However, Hussein mimicked a Jordanian celebration that was done in the first half, which could be seen as unsportsmanlike conduct. After the game, a petition by Iraqi fans on change.org was made to call on Faghani's suspension, which accumulated over 800,000 signatures. The Asian Football Confederation issued a statement saying Faghani's decision was correct. Faghani received a torrent of social media abuse, leading to Football Australia issuing a statement saying that they are taking steps to protect and support their official.

On 14 April 2025, Faghani was named as a match official for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, representing Australia. Faghani and Australian assistant referees Anton Shchetinin and Ashley Beacham were selected to referee the opening match of the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. After refereeing two group stage matches and a quarter-final match during the tournament, Faghani was selected to referee the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final. After the Club World Cup final, Iranian state media criticized and threatened Faghani after having censored the award ceremony, while Iranian dissidents praised Faghani for his conduct during the tournament and described his presence at such a high-profile event as a source of national pride.

In April 2026, Faghani was named as a referee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, representing Australia.

Personal life

On 14 January 2026, Faghani voiced his support of the 2025–2026 Iranian protests by comparing the high death toll of 12,000 casualties in 4 days to the 14,500 casualties in the first three years of the Russo-Ukrainian War. On 25 January, Faghani again wrote: "For your filthy survival, you swallowed the lives of our loved ones. Our deal with you; no trial, no forgiveness. Dancing and stomping on each and every grave of yours."

Matches

FIFA World Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup

Summer Olympics

AFC Asian Cup

FIFA Club World Cup

FIFA Intercontinental Cup

Statistics

Honours

• Iranian Referee of the Year: 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• Asian Referee of the Year: 2016, 2018

External links

• at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 November 2022)
• at Soccerway (archived)
• at EU-Football.info ()
• at WorldFootball.net
• at Soccerbase
• at WorldReferee.com