South Korean referees' humble Korea address in 'controversy over misjudgment', likely to be 'excluding allocation' in ACLE tournament

*This content was translated by AI.

It has been reported that domestic referees, who have been criticized for repeated misjudgment controversies in the K-League, will not be able to play in the 2025-2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite Tournament.

According to Reffering World, which reports the news of referees around the world on the 3rd (Korea Standard Time), Korean national referees were not listed on the ACLE quarter-finals and finals tournament's main and vice judges list, which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from the 17th to the 25th.

Previously, referees Kim Jong-hyuk, Ko Hyung-jin, and Choi Hyun-jae played the role of referee in the group stage of the tournament, but after the quarterfinals of the tournament, where the winning team is determined, there is no place for Korean referees to stand.

ACLE, which was divided into East and West Asia until the round of 16, will determine the winning team in a single match from the quarterfinals to the finals in one region from the quarterfinals tournament. It is also the most important club competition organized by AFC.

Although there is no official AFC announcement yet, according to the media, the state and vice judges who will host the tournament are Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uzbekistan national referees.

Not only Australian and Chinese national referees who have not reached the quarterfinals like Korea, but also Japanese national referees who have reached the quarterfinals of the tournament by two teams are on the tournament's main and vice judges list. On the other hand, none of the Korean national judges were listed on the list of state or vice judges.

However, referee Kim Woo-sung was the only one on the ACLE tournament referee list as a VAR. Judge Kim is the only referee in Korea who is considered to participate in the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup as a VAR role. He is also a referee who claimed to have been racist by then-Jeonbuk Hyundai coach Gus Foyet last year and was later suspended for three months after conducting a media interview without approval from the Korea Football Association.

Meanwhile, domestic referees were criticized last year for repeated controversies over misjudgment, and Moon Jin-hee, chairman of the Korea Football Association's referee committee, attended a parliamentary audit on misjudgment. As the controversy intensified, the Korea Football Association announced structural improvement measures such as referee allocation, evaluation, and education earlier this year and promised to establish a Monday briefing to explain major decision issues. However, since the beginning of the season, the referees have already committed misjudgment even after watching the video review, and the Korea Football Association has not yet held a Monday briefing.

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*This content was translated by AI.