All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey has assured that the body will take up the issue of refereeing decisions that went against the Blue Tigers in their final FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers match against Qatar in Doha with the higher authorities.
Qatar clinched the game 2-1 as Ahmed Al-Rawi struck the back of the net for them in the 85th minute. However, the ball had appeared to move out of the touchline, before a bunch of Qatari players rushed the ball in and Al-Rawi ended up netting from close range. The Indian players, under the captaincy of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, protested against the same, but to no avail as the Igor Stimac-coached side missed out of an opportunity of progressing into the next stage of the qualification process.
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"It was a wrong decision made by the referee and India was to face defeat because of that decision. India was on the verge of scripting history. For the first time, India was in the situation of qualifying for the 3rd round of the FIFA World Cup...There has been a huge mistake in the refereeing. We all saw that the ball was out of the goal line. Why couldn’t the referee or the side referee (linesman) see it? It is something that needs to be investigated," Chaubey said.
He added, "Yesterday, we had a word with our chief referee, we complained to the FIFA head of qualifiers, the AFC head of referees & the AFC head of competition and the match commissioner under the IFAB. We are hopeful of getting justice. It is unfortunate for us that the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system was not there for us."
Chaubey explained that he has been informed that the VAR system will be there from the third round of the Qualifiers onwards. He said this decision could have been easily challenged during the game itself if the VAR would have been available. Chaubey quipped that the team is hopeful of getting a feedback from the authorities and bagging sporting compensation as per the law too. This was India's first international game since the retirement of former captain Sunil Chhetri, who hung his boots earlier this month in Bhubaneswar.
Qatar clinched the game 2-1 as Ahmed Al-Rawi struck the back of the net for them in the 85th minute. However, the ball had appeared to move out of the touchline, before a bunch of Qatari players rushed the ball in and Al-Rawi ended up netting from close range. The Indian players, under the captaincy of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, protested against the same, but to no avail as the Igor Stimac-coached side missed out of an opportunity of progressing into the next stage of the qualification process.
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"It was a wrong decision made by the referee and India was to face defeat because of that decision. India was on the verge of scripting history. For the first time, India was in the situation of qualifying for the 3rd round of the FIFA World Cup...There has been a huge mistake in the refereeing. We all saw that the ball was out of the goal line. Why couldn’t the referee or the side referee (linesman) see it? It is something that needs to be investigated," Chaubey said.
He added, "Yesterday, we had a word with our chief referee, we complained to the FIFA head of qualifiers, the AFC head of referees & the AFC head of competition and the match commissioner under the IFAB. We are hopeful of getting justice. It is unfortunate for us that the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system was not there for us."
Chaubey explained that he has been informed that the VAR system will be there from the third round of the Qualifiers onwards. He said this decision could have been easily challenged during the game itself if the VAR would have been available. Chaubey quipped that the team is hopeful of getting a feedback from the authorities and bagging sporting compensation as per the law too. This was India's first international game since the retirement of former captain Sunil Chhetri, who hung his boots earlier this month in Bhubaneswar.
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