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Football Palestine has learned that the Palestine Football Association (PFA) will launch a legal appeal after a controversial penalty was awarded against them in the dying embers of their qualifier against Oman last Tuesday.
Palestine were on the cusp of advancing to Round Four of Asian World Cup qualification when Iranian referee Mooud Bonyadifard blew his whistle with 30 seconds of time added on to be played.
The penalty was reviewed by the Australian VAR crew headed by Alex King but they decided against calling Bonyadifard to the monitor.
A press release from the PFA was not issued immediately after the game as the administration debated internally as to the best course of action. The statement from the PFA reads as follows:
Football Palestine has learned that the official complaint requests FIFA and the AFC to:
- Provide all audio communication between the VAR room and referee Mooud Bonyadifard.
- Provide a detailed technical explanation as to why the penalty was awarded.
- To prevent the appointment of Mooud Bonyadifard and Alex King to future matches involving the Palestine national football team.
- To replay the match on the grounds that a clear and obvious error was made by the referee and implementation of VAR.
There is some precedent to support Palestine’s appeal. In 2005, Uzbekistan appealed when a goal kick- as opposed to a penalty retake- was awarded following an encroached penalty kick against Bahrain.
The 1-0 result was cancelled and the qualifier was played again with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.
In Russia 2018 World Cup qualification a penalty was awarded to South Africa in their match against Senegal. Replays showed that Kalidou Koluibaly did not handle the ball. South Africa would score the penalty and win the game 2-1. FIFA discovered that referee Joseph Lampety had been compromised and ordered the game to be replayed.
