Indian football team expressed their anger while their fans created a massive uproar on social media after a highly controversial decision by the referee denied the Blue Tigers a well-deserved victory in their crucial FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier against Qatar.

India lost 1-2 to the hosts on Tuesday at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, in their final FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 Group A match.

The Blue Tigers, who began the night in second place in the group, were relegated to third place after the defeat, thus losing the opportunity to make it to Round 3 of the World Cup qualifiers. They will now proceed to the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Third Round qualification.

India led by 1-0 at halftime, but Qatar came back in the second half through Youssef Ayman Farahat (73’) and Ahmed Alrawi (85’). Youssef’s goal was the turning point, as it was clearly a wrong call on the part of the match official. Replays clearly showed the ball crossing the byline for a corner kick in India’s favour. However, referee Kim Woo-Sung inexplicably awarded possession to Qatar. Youssef capitalised on this error and found the net that ultimately equalised the score.

The Indian players vehemently protested the decision, claiming that the ball had already gone out of play before the goal was scored, but the referee, Kim Woo-Sung of South Korea, did not budge.

Who is Kim Woo-Sung & what is his past experience

36-year-old Kim Woo-Sung from South Korea has officiated in K League 1 games, AFC Cup matches, and World Cup qualification Asia games. He has made 15 appearances in total. While the specific reason behind Kim Woo-Sung’s decision remains unclear, his background raises questions about his experience handling high-pressure World Cup qualifiers.

Who were the match officials for India vs Qatar?

Here is the list of the six-member team and the countries they come from

Referee: Kim Woo-Sung (KOR)

Assistant referee 1: Kang Dong Ho (KOR)

Assistant referee 2: Cheon Jin Hee (KOR)

Fourth Official: Abdyldaev Daiyrbek (KGZ)

Match Commissioner: Hamed Momeni (IRN)

Referee Assessor: Basel Al Hajjar (SYR)

India Line Up List Against Qatar: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (C & GK); Anwar Ali, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Singh; Jay Gupta (Nandhakumar Sekar 87’), Suresh Wangjam, Jeakson Singh, Brandon Fernandes (Sahal Abdul Samad 63’); Lallianzuala Chhangte (Edmond Lalrindika 87’), Rahim Ali (Liston Colaco 63’), Manvir Singh (Vikram Partap Singh 79’).