Abdulrahman al-Jassim: The referee officiating the World Cup third place playoff
By Sean Walsh
Croatia will face Morocco in the 2022 World Cup third place playoff on Saturday, fighting for the bronze medal.
The two relative outsiders to go all the way in Qatar finally met their match in the semi-finals, being eliminated by Argentina and France respectively.
Having already faced off in the opening round of group stage matches, the Vatreni and the Atlas Lions are no strangers.
In a knockout stage that has been dampened if only a little by refereeing decisions, the man in the middle for the tournament's penultimate fixture will be Abdulrahman al-Jassim.
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Who is Abdulrahman al-Jassim?
Al-Jassim is the only Qatari referee that has officiated at the 2022 World Cup, and he will have the honour of taking charge of the third place playoff.
The 35-year-old has been a FIFA-accredited referee since 2013 and has had to work his way through the ranks in recent years.
After officiating at the 2017 Under-20 World Cup, he was handed a spot as a Video Assistant Referee for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
From there, Al-Jassim took charge of matches at the 2019 Asian Cup and 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup (as part of an exchange programme with the AFC). Later in 2019, he officiated the Club World Cup final between Liverpool and Flamengo.
One year later, he was given the 2020 AFC Champions League final between Persepolis and Ulsan Hyundai.
Has Abdulrahman al-Jassim ever refereed a Croatia game?
Al-Jassim has never officiated a game involving Croatia.
Has Abdulrahman al-Jassim ever refereed a Morocco game?
Al-Jassim has never officiated a game involving Morocco.
What other matches has Abdulrahman al-Jassim refereed at the 2022 World Cup?
Al-Jassim has officiated just one other match so far this tournament - Wales' opening 1-1 draw with the United States in the opening round of group stage matches.
He dished out six yellow cards that day - two to Wales and four to the USA - while he also awarded Gareth Bale a penalty when he was impeded by Walker Zimmerman.