Alireza migrated to Australia from Iran for family reasons but is a former World Cup and Asian Cup ref, overseeing four games at Russia 2018, including the third-place play off between Belgium and England, and two matches at Qatar 2019.

He was also in charge of two matches at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the gold medal match at the 2016 Olympic Games Men’s Football tournament between Germany and Brazil.

He was twice named the AFC Referee of the Year in 2016 & 2018 and was also the referee for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 Final between the Socceroos and Korea Republic in Sydney.

Alireza will join Chris Beath, Shaun Evans and Alex King as the current full-time pro FFA referees.

“It is a great honour for us to have a referee of the caliber of Alireza Faghani joining the Hyundai A-League," said FFA Chairman and Chair of the FFA Referees Committee Chris Nikou.

“It was extremely fortuitous for us that Alireza and his family had chosen to move to Australia and it was a very easy decision for us to make to offer him a position as a match official in the Hyundai A-League.

“His international experience will be a huge asset for the competition and, in addition, he will be able to mentor our young, up and coming match officials as well.

“We look forward to seeing Alireza in action for the upcoming Hyundai A-League season.”

Alireza was excited about the new challenge of refereeing in the Hyundai A-League.

“Once my family made the decision to move to Australia, it was fantastic that the opportunity to referee in the Hyundai A-League came about,” said Faghani.

“It was a very big decision to leave our home country, but I am extremely thankful that I am still able to referee professionally in one of the top domestic leagues in Asia and also continue my career as an international match official.

“I have refereed many times in Australia and with Australian clubs so I am very familiar with the players and venues.

“My family and I are very much looking forward to moving to Australia and starting the next chapter of our lives,”