According to authorities, women will officiate the men's Asian Cup for the first time ever in Qatar in 2019, including Japanese pioneer Yoshimi Yamashita. Yamashita and four other ladies have been picked for the regional championship in January-February. Yamashita was also chosen for the Qatar 2022 World Cup for men.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) statement: "For the first time ever, women match officials are poised to make their debut at Asia's most prestigious men's national team competition." Alireza Faghani, who will be refereeing in his third AFC Asian Cup, and Abdulrahman Al-Jassim of Qatar, who handled the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 third-place playoff between Croatia and Morocco, are among the most experienced male referees, it was said.
According to the AFC, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology will also "fully debut" at the competition. For the first time ever, there will be 24 nations competing in the Asian Cup, and the defending winners are Qatar. After making it to the Round of 16 in the World Cup in Qatar, Japan and South Korea will also be considered favourites.
The AFC announced this month that a Champions League for Asian women will begin play in 2019.
