Ahmed Al-Kaf

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

On 8 November 2019, it was reported that Al-Kaf would officiate the match between Thailand and Vietnam. He was nicknamed "national referee" and "Asian Collina" by Vietnamese football fans, who praised his calmness and neutrality during matches. During the match, Tien Dung passed Thai goalkeeper Manuel Bihr to score a goal, but Al-Kaf declared this incident a penalty, stating that Đoàn Văn Hậu had previously brought Bihr down in the box. The match resulted in a tie of 0–0, causing Thailand to lose their second place ranking to Malaysia.

2020 AFC U-23 Championship In January 2020, Al-Kaf was questioned for several dubious rulings made in the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Quarter Finals between Saudi Arabia against host, Thailand. During the 78th minute of the game, he was accused of awarding Saudi Arabian footballer Abdullah Al-Hamdan a free kick just outside the box. The Football Association of Thailand sent an official letter to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), questioning the fairness and integrity of officiating in the match. On 10 October 2024, Al-Kaf came under heavy scrutiny after he was accused by Indonesian football players and the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) of making biased decisions in the match between Bahrain and Indonesia in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualification; while the game was originally planned to go on for 6 more minutes, he allowed the game to continue for 9 additional minutes. This led to Mohamed Marhoon scoring a 2–2 equalizer with only 20 seconds remaining.

The Oman Football Association (OFA) would later condemn the "use of threatening and intimidating language" towards Al-Kaf by Indonesian fans, demanding he be protected due to death threats while claiming that the association was looking into the incident with the relevant authorities. Additionally, Bahraini football players were subject to online harassment and hacking operations, according to the Bahrain Football Association, which the AFC was aware of. The PSSI later requested the AFC to assign referees from neutral zones for the World Cup qualifiers.

Removals from duties On 14 October 2024, Omani journalist Khamis Al-Balushi reported that Al-Kaf was removed from Asian Elite Champions League Duties. In April 2025, Al-Kaf was removed from the list of referees officiating the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. In response, the Chairman of the OFA contacted the President of the AFC to discuss the exclusion of Al-Kaf and the rest of the Omani referee team. In spite of these removals, Al-Kaf, along with other Omani referees, participated in the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup from 27 September to 19 October, and the 2026 AFC Champions League Elite final.