Referee Ahmed Al Kaf Removed From Asian Elite Champions League Duties

Referee Ahmed Al Kaf (second from the left) is not allowed to lead the Asian Elite Champions League (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - The controversial referee Ahmed Al Kaf, who is being highlighted by the Indonesian public, has been dropped from his duties in leading the Asian Elite Champions League match.

This was revealed by journalist Oman, Khamis Al Balushi, on Monday, October 14, 2024.

"According to one of his personal sources, Ahmed Al Kaf should not be the referee for the match between Al-Ain vs Al-Hilal in the AFC Champions League on Monday, October 21, 2024!" reads the @Infro_Sports2 account upload on X.

Ahmed Al Kaf is actually scheduled to become the main referee in the Western Regional group stage match between representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, and host Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal.

The match was held at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on October 21, 2024 local time.

Meanwhile, in the past week, the name Ahmed Al Kaf has become a hot topic of conversation in Indonesian football.

The referee from Oman was the judge when the Indonesian national team visited Bahrain headquarters on October 10, 2024.

Ahmed Al Kaf was accused of robbing the Garuda Squad victory. You see, during the victory of the Indonesian national team in front of our eyes, Bahrain was able to score the equalizer goal to 2-2 in the 90+9 minute.

In fact, Ahmed Al Kaf and the fourth official referee have determined just six minutes of injury time.

For his controversial decision to extend injury time, he became the target of social media.

Indonesian netizens attacked Ahmed Al Kaf's Instagram account. Not only that, the AFC and the Bahrain Football Federation (BFA) did not escape attacks on social media.

Netizens say that Indonesia's failure to win is a form of match fixing setting.

Moreover, there is a fact that the President of the AFC, Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, is a member of the Bahrain Kingdom.

This allegation made netizens furious. The hashtag #AFCMafia was also busy on social media.