A most remarkable incident has occurred on the Egyptian fields. In a match between second divisionists Suez and Al-Nasr, referee Mohamed Farouk used a spectator’s phone as VAR to judge a goal by Al-Nasr, in the absence of a normal video referee. Farouk was not appreciated by several parties.
At Al-Nasr’s 2-2, the Suez players protested because they thought hands had been made. Farouk had not seen that and could not fall back on an official VAR for one second opinion. He then turned to the audience. The referee ruled that hands had indeed been made and disallowed the hit, after which the Al-Nasr players exploded. Farouk had to leave the field under police escort and was summoned not much later by the Egyptian federation.
In the 2. Liga #Ägypten gibt es eigentlich keinen VAR. In der Partie Suez SC v Al-Nasr entschieden sich Schiedsrichter Mohamed Farouk und sein Team gestern aber, einen 2:2-Ausgleich in der 90. auf dem Handy eines Zuschauers anzuschauen, um weitere Ausschreitungen zu verhindern pic.twitter.com/QZ1V1trAsj
— Henning (@henhink) March 18, 2023
Vitor Pereira, the referee boss of the association, announced in a statement that he would suspend the entire arbitral quartet indefinitely. It also stated that the union would investigate Farouk’s action. Al-Nasr – which eventually lost the match 3-1 after fifteen minutes of stoppage time – has announced that it will take legal action against the arbitrator.
