AFC Asian Cup 2023: Chinese referee Fu Ming to officiate India's clash against Uzbekistan

Indian football team lost their last group stage game against Australia.

Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Continental showpiece event, the AFC Asian Cup is already underway and has just put the curtains on its first round. Indian football team was drawn into Group B along with Asian giants Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria.

In the first round, India was up against Graham Arnold’s formidable Australia as the Blue Tigers suffered a 2-0 loss. With both the goals coming in the second half from the Socceroos, India did make four attempts in the game but only one of them was on target coming from Suresh’s right foot.

In the second round, Igor Stimac’s men will be taking on Srecko Katanec’s Uzbekistan who are currently third on the table after they shared points with Syria in the first game.

Fu Ming, the 40-year-old match official hailing from China PR, has been assigned to oversee the India vs Uzbekistan group stage match the AFC Asian Cup. One of the top Chinese football referees, Fu Ming, has been in the business since his international debut back in 2014.

In 2019, Fu Ming came under the spotlight after he was dragged into a scandal and the state media accused him of a ‘bias’ while officiating a high-profile game in the Chinese top flight. Fu Ming was one of five professional referees hired by the Chinese Football Association during that season.

His choice during the Chinese Super League match between Henan Jianye and Shandong Luneng drew criticism from supporters of both teams and brought him into the public eye. Following this, one of the five Chinese football referees, Fu, was accused on social media of stealing portions of a research paper he had written about the game.

From 2005 to 2016, Fu worked as a sports instructor at a school in Nanjing, which is close to Shanghai. In the English adaptation of the controversial story, he was accused of “favouritism” in the controversial 2-2 draw during the Chinese Super League game, a move that “tarnishes sportsmanship and the image of Chinese soccer.” He has officiated Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and has also attended the AFC Asian Cup previously.

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