Iranian-Australian referee Alireza Faghani will be in charge of the final of the Club World Cup between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, planned for Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, FIFA announced.
Faghani, who was born 47 years ago in the Iranian city of Kashmar, officer also the opening match of the tournament between Inter Miami and the Egypts Al Ahly (0–0), as well as Bayern Munich vs. Boca Juniors (2-1) in the group stage and the Palmeiras Vsus quarterfinals (1-2). Faghani emigrated to Australia in 2019.
Faghani's long referee career
Faghani, a FIFA officer since 2008, was the referee for the gold medal match at the 2016 Olympic Games between Brazil and Germany, and he participated in the World Cup 2018 in Russia and the 2022 edition in Qatar. He has twice been named Asian football confederation Referee of the Year.
On Sunday, Faghani is assisted by his fellow Australians Anton Shchetin and Ashley Becham. The fourth official and reserve assistant will be Argentinians Facundo Tello and Gabriel Chade respectively. The VAR team is led by the German Bastian Dankert, accompanied by Tatiana Guzmán of Nicaragua and Ivan Bebek in Croatia.
The final between PSG, the winners of the Champions League of last season, and Chelsea, this year's champions, starts on Sunday, July 13 at 3:00 pm and at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford.