Muhammad Taqi Al-Jaafari bin Jahari (born 25 October 1986) is a Singaporean international footballreferee.[1] He has been a FIFA listed referee since 2012,[2] and has also refereed a number of AFC Champions League matches. He has also won the 2014 S.League Referee of the Year and the AFF Referee of the Year in 2017.
Taqi's road to the pinnacle of football refereeing began when he accompanied his friends who had fathers and uncles as a match officials where it prompt him to take his first refereeing course at 15-year-old at the old National Stadium.
Taqi underwent a football trials with Clementi Khalsa back in the days but things didn't quite work out for him being an actual footballer so he quickly developed a curiosity and understanding for the Laws of the Game, and was actively involved as a Class 3 referee after he completed his O-levels. When he was 19, he was promoted to a Class 2 referee to officiate in the Prime League matches, before stepping up as a Class 1 referee the same year to be involved in S.League (now known as Singapore Premier League) matches.
Refereeing career
Taqi started his referee career in 2006 where on 27 April 2006, he officiate his first match in the 2006 S.League contested between Geylang United and Balestier Khalsa. Taqi became a FIFA-listed referee in 2012.[3]
In February 2014, Taqi had a double in his career where he refereed the 2014 Singapore Charity Shield and the 2014 Singapore Cup Final. In the opening ceremony at the new Singapore National Stadium, Taqi refereed the first match on 16 August 2014 between Italian giants, Juventus and Singapore Selection which saw Juventus winning the match 5–0. In the same year, he was also awarded with S.League Referee of the Year.
On 15 July 2022, Taqi officiated the match between both English Premier League clubs, Liverpool and Crystal Palace at the Singapore National Stadium.
Taqi was also selected to officiate as a VAR for the 2022 FIFA World Cup[3] and the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, making him the first Singaporean to officiate at both the men's and women's World Cup tournaments.[6]
On 14 September 2023, the AFC announced that Taqi and 32 other referees were selected as referees for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. On 14 January 2024, he was selected to officiate a match between UAE and Hong Kong which UAE won the match 3–1. Taqi also saw Hong Kong midfielder Chan Siu Kwan who scored the 1,000th goal in the AFC Asian Cup history.
Taqi was selected to officiate a match in the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Elite fixtures between Thailand club Buriram United and Japanese club Vissel Kobe on 17 September 2024 and also between Chinese club Shanghai Shenghua and Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale on 23 October 2024. Taqi was then selected to officiate the group stage fixture in the west region of the tournament between Emirati club Al Wasl and Qatari club Al Rayyan on 2 December.
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