Dubai: Referees have a tough task on a football pitch — coping with pressure of taking tough decisions and then standing by it.
However, thanks to the decisions handed out by the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee, the governing body is set to be richer by $90,500 (Dh330,500) at the end of last week’s 36 preliminary round matches.
The highest fine so far has been levied on Australia’s goalkeeper coach Johannes Cornelis, being slammed with a hefty $10,000 penalty for “failing to conduct himself in a responsible manner by using abusive language towards the Syrian team bench” during their last Group B match in Al Ain on January 15.
The lowest fine was the $2,500 on five players from the Philippines team in their 1-3 loss to Kyrgyzstan in Dubai on January 16. There are two cases of $7,500 fines — one against Uzbekistan’s Egor Krimets and the other against Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic. The bulk of the fines are for the yellow cards received by players, including one to the UAE’s Amer Abdul Rahman Al Hammadi in the hosts’ opener against Bahrain on January 5.
As per regulations, all respondents have 30 days to settle the fines in keeping with Article 11.3 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code, while also being handed a caution that a repeat of the violation may be met with more severe punishment in the future.
