JEDDAH, 28 April — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, the president of the Youth Welfare Presidency as well as the Saudi Football Federation, issued an order yesterday suspending King’s Cup semifinals referees Ibraheem Al-Omar, referee of Wednesday’s match and Omar Al-Muhana, referee of Thursday’s match, for six months each. Both referees proved to be below par to officiate in important and sensitive matches such as the King’s Cup semifinals that were played this week.
Angry words were spoken to Ibraheem Al-Omar, the referee of the Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli match on Wednesday, and Omar Al-Muhana by the managers of both clubs.
Al-Omar was accused of ignoring penalties and fouls in favor of Al-Ahli team such as when both strikers Talal Al-Mishal and Khaled Al-Gahwaji were tripped in the box at two different times.
Al-Muhana was accused of lack of accuracy when not punishing Abdullah Al-Shareedah, the defender of Al-Hilal for hitting Al-Nasr’s striker Ali Yazeed on his nose with his elbow resulting in his bleeding from the nose. Al-Muhana was also accused of not awarding a penalty in favor of Al-Hilal’s striker Recardo “Alcato”.
Furthermore, the Saudi Football Federation accused the referees for lacking physical fitness. They were slow in following the football and the players on the pitch.
Prince Sultan said that this decision will not change the results of the matches and Al-Nasr will meet Ittihad in Jeddah soon.
