Sina News reports that the Chinese U23 team was unfairly treated by the referee.

Sina (China) has expressed outrage regarding the refereeing in the matches played so far at the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship.

The Bahraini referee was criticized by Sina for being "biased" towards the Uzbekistan U23 team - Photo: SINA

According to Sina, referees, especially those from West Asia, are having "serious problems" with the Chinese U23 team. They also demand that the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) intervene and rectify the refereeing practices to prevent the Chinese U23 team from continuing to suffer disadvantages.

According to Sina , the Qatari referee made unfair decisions against the Chinese U23 team in their final group stage match against Thailand, with many decisions that were detrimental to the young Chinese team.

Next, in the quarter-finals, the Chinese U23 team suffered from biased refereeing from Bahrain in favor of the Uzbekistan U23 team.

Sina cited that the referee overlooked many fouls committed by the Uzbekistan U23 team and lacked strictness by not issuing yellow cards to the Uzbekistan U23 players.

This news site also claims that the referee ignored a situation where the Chinese U23 team deserved a penalty and issued yellow cards "randomly," resulting in key player Yang Haoyu being suspended for the semi-final match against Vietnam U23.

Although it didn't mention the U23 Asian Championship semi-final match, Sina clearly raised these concerns implicitly to put pressure on the refereeing team officiating the semi-final against Vietnam on the evening of January 20th.

The AFC has not yet announced the refereeing team for the match between Vietnam U23 and China U23. However, with East Asian teams playing in the semi-finals, it is highly likely that the AFC will assign referees from West Asia to officiate the semi-finals of the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship.

This will certainly make Chinese fans feel uneasy.

HOAI DU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/trang-tin-sina-lo-u23-trung-quoc-bi-trong-tai-bat-ep-2026011820553774.htm