DOHA: Qatar Football Association (QFA) Vice President Saud Al
Mohannadi has defended the performances of match officials in the
country, saying refereeing standards in Qatar have improved in recent
years.

Al Mohannadi was reacting to criticism of Al Sailiyah President
Abdullah Alaidh who said the standards had declined.

“The QFA Referees Committee is constantly looking into ways to help
improve performances of the officiating personel,” Al Mohannadi said.

“As I see it, the performances of the referees during every level of
football game or event has improved considerably.

“Our referees get the best of training in Qatar and when they are
sent on assignments to Europe,” he said.

“We have reached a level of refereeing where our officials are asked
to officiate in matches around the world,” Al Mohannadi said.

“I would praise the efforts of Hani Balan of and Neji Jouini who
have spent a lot of time in revamping and developing our refereeing set up,”

“If there are issues related to gamesmanship, QFA’s Disciplinary
Committee looks into every case carefully and acts accordingly,” Al
Mohannadi said.

“I would urge the game’s stakeholders to uphold the spirit of the game
and not get dragged into controversies needlessly.

“We have assigned people with specific roles and we wouldn’t want to
interfere in their work,” he said.