The Afghanistan Football Federation has announced that a team of Afghan referees has been invited to AFC Cup tournament.

Halim Aqa Shirzad will be present as the referee for AFC Cup group stage competitions in the Eastern Asia zone and Sharif Sarwari, Afghan international assistant referee, will assist Shirzad. They will present as referees for Viettel Vietnam, Hougang United FC, Phnom Penh Crown FC and Young Elephants FC football clubs alongside referees from Australia, India, Tajikistan and Palestine.

In these competitions, they will be refereeing one match as the 4th referee and one as the main referee. It is Halim Shirzad’s second appearance at the AFC Cup group stage competitions. Last year, he appeared for the western Asia AFC Cup in Jordan along with Nangyalai Sadat, another assistant referee of Afghanistan.

AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competitions will begin on June 24 and last till June 30 in Ho Chi Minh city of Vietnam. Afghan referees will come to the city for preparations on June 20.