Ryuji Sato

is a former Japanese football referee. He has officiated matches in the J1 League, AFC Champions League and FIFA World Cup qualifiers and is currently a director of referees in the J.League.

Controversy The 2022 AFF Championship Group B match between Malaysia and Vietnam was marred by controversy when Sato made a sudden controversial decision to award a penalty to Vietnam following a clash between Malaysia's Azam Azmi and Vietnam's Đoàn Văn Hậu outside the penalty box which saw Azam being sent off, although he ignored a similar foul made by Văn Hậu towards Azam. A complaint was made by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) towards the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) regarding the "perceived biasedness of Sato's officiating conduct" since a similar incident had also occurred before in another Malaysia-Vietnam encounter during 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification held in the United Arab Emirates. Through the letter, the FAM requested Sato to never officiate any matches involving Malaysia in the future. Nevertheless, earlier before the controversial decision was made, Sato announced that 2022 would be the last year of his refereeing career when he announced his retirement by the end of the year.

On 3 January 2023, the AFF responded to the FAM's letter by giving Azam a two-match ban, where he would miss Malaysia's last group stage match against Singapore and the semi-final first leg against Thailand. Azam also needed to pay a fine of US$1,000 that must be settled in 30 days. The decisions were not appealable.

AFC Asian Cup matches 2019 AFC Asian Cup – United Arab Emirates Date Match Venue Round 7 January 2019 – Abu Dhabi Group stage 14 January 2019 – Al Ain Group stage 22 January 2019 – Dubai Round of 16 25 January 2019 – Al Ain Quarter-finals