On October 11 Beijing time (CET), a reporter @XiaoNan from Beijing Youth Daily reported that Ma Ning and 5 other Chinese referees have arrived in Saudi Arabia, and their assignments to officiate AFC Champions League matches are awaiting notification.

According to reports, the second leg of the AFC Champions League Elite qualification round for the 2026-2027 season in West Asia between Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr and Uzbekistan's Neftchi Fargona will kick off at 02:15 on October 13 Beijing time (CET).

According to AFC referee assignments, an all-Chinese referee team will officiate this match. Ma Ning will serve as the main referee, Fu Ming as the VAR referee, and other team members include assistant referee Zhou Fei, assistant referee Luo Zheng, fourth official Zhang Lei, and VAR assistant Du Jianxin. According to AFC's customary practice for assigning referees to international matches, referees typically arrive at the match venue two days before the match. Since these Chinese referees belong to different Chinese member associations and some are also invited to officiate professional matches in other countries, they typically depart from domestic or international ports near their location or workplace, then meet up at the AFC Champions League host city or at a connecting point. This Chinese referee team was expected to arrive in Riyadh on October 10 local time.

However, it is understood that due to unforeseen circumstances including an unexpected explosion at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, the referee team members are currently not in Riyadh but have relocated to another city in Saudi Arabia. As of now, whether the Chinese referee team members can travel to Riyadh to officiate this match remains pending further notification from AFC. AFC has not yet issued an official announcement regarding a match postponement or referee team change.

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