On January 17th, Beijing time, the Japan Football Association officially announced a list of 14 newly promoted first-class referees. Among them, a referee named "Fu Ming" was notably included.
According to information released by the Japan Football Association, this referee named "Fu Ming" is affiliated with the Tokyo Metropolitan Football Association. The Japanese football magazine "Gekisaka" directly published an article stating that this referee is indeed the international-level referee Fu Ming. If it is indeed the familiar CSL referee Fu Ming we know, it is expected that Fu Ming will "go abroad" and be permanently stationed in Japan for the new season, and may serve as the main referee in the J-League.
As of now, other authoritative Japanese media have not followed up on the report, even the Japanese men's football team's accompanying reporter, Takeuchi, has also reposted the message, expressing his surprise. It is known that first-class referees of the Japan Football Association can undertake all football events held by the Japan Football Association.
Born in 1983, Fu Ming became a national-level referee in 2008, obtained the qualification to enforce international-level matches in 2014, became an AFC elite referee in 2015, and won the silver whistle in the selection for the best referee award in the 2016 CSL season. Since then, Fu Ming has served as the main referee in many focus battles in the CSL.
On the international stage, Fu Ming has also served as a referee for the AFC Champions League, Asian Cup, U20 World Cup, Tokyo Olympics, Club World Cup, etc., and was even included in the list of candidates for the main referees of the Qatar World Cup.