TEHRAN - Iranian international football referee Alireza Faghani is going to migrate to Australia with his family.

The 41-year-old famous referee says he has decided to migrate to Australia for his family.

“My children need to continue their studies at the Australian universities. I can also officiate there. We will move to Australia within one month,” Faghani said.

“After the 2018 World Cup, I wanted to spend more time with my family because I was very busy in the recent years. If I am invited to the international events, I will officiate as an Iranian referee. From now on, I want to devote myself to my family,” Faghani added.

Faghani, who started his career in 1994 and became a FIFA referee in 2008, has officiated finals of the 2014 AFC Champions League, 2015 AFC Asian Cup, 2015 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Football Tournament.

The 2016 AFC Referee of the Year built on the experience and officiated in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final and was also tasked with the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Asian play-off match between Syria and Australia.

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Faghani officiated German and Mexico, Serbia and Brazil and France and Argentina matches.

He was also chosen to referee third-place playoff between Belgium and England.