Alireza Faghani has been awarded his third FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 match.

The top Iranian referee will be in the centre of the action for the match between Argentina and France in round 16 of the competition. Faghani has already refereed two matches in the tournament.

In both his showing , the 40 years old Faghani, who was born on 21 March 1978 in Kashmar, a city near Mashhad, delivered excellent performance in the two difficult matches. Faghani would be refereeing his 4th ex FIFA World Cup winners when the likes of Messi and Pogba meet in Kazan on 30th June.

2018 FIFA World Cup – Russia
Date	Match	Venue	Round
17 June 2018	Germany –  Mexico	Moscow	Group stage
27 June 2018	Serbia –  Brazil	Moscow	Group stage
30 June 2018	France –  Argentina	Kazan	Round of 16

Faghani became a FIFA referee in 2008, only a year after officiating in the top flight league in Iran. soon after Faghani moved up the ladder quite rapidly in Asia. After only one year of international experience Faghani took charge of the 2009 AFC President’s Cup Final 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 but this time it was a much more important final in the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup where the winner qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian 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. Faghani was 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 awarded Saudi Arabia a penalty kick but Naif Hazazi missed it.

He reached a significant milestone when he was awarded the refereeing of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final, between South Korea and Australia. Faghani was the referee in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final between Club Atlético River Plate and FC Barcelona. Perhaps even more important milestone  was 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. In the semi final match between Portugal and Chile he caused controversy by not calling a penalty on Chile’s favor, refusing to use the recently implemented Video assistant referee.