The match will be held on January 12 in Saudi Arabia. This will be Mahfoudh's second match in this tournament; he previously officiated the game between Korea and Iran, which ended in a 0:0 draw.
The referee from Bahrain already has experience officiating matches involving the Kyrgyzstan national team. In an autumn match in 2023, he officiated the game Malaysia - Kyrgyzstan, which ended with a score of 4:3 in favor of the hosts, and in spring 2024, he was the main referee for the game Kyrgyzstan - Chinese Taipei, where the Kyrgyz team won 5:1.
