This whole situation is disappointing on so many levels. Typical Saudi attitude to buy something rather than trust their own people.
December 29 Al Ittifaq - Al Ittihad Milorad Mazic (SRB), Milovan Ristic (SRB), Danijel Djurdjevic (SRB), Kevin Blom (NED)
December 30 Ohod - Al Raed Viktor Kassai (HUN), Gyorgy Ring (HUN), Vencel Toth (HUN), Istvan Vad (HUN) Al Taawon - Al Hilal Danny Makkelie (NED), Mario Diks (NED), Hessel Steegstra (NED), Danijel Djurdjevic (SRB) Typical UCL night in Saudi Arabia, in refereeing terms.
Comparatively speaking, there are A LOT of red cards in this Saudi league from the same referees who barely give any in the UCL.
Does that mean the Saudi instructions are stricter, play is dirtier there, or the referees feel they have more freedom to use the red card?
The league takes a short break for the King's Cup Round of 64. Unlikely as it may seem, domestic referees are being used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_King_Cup
I admittedly am only getting to watch clips, but my take is that it's mostly #2 and #3. I've seen some softer 2CTs but I've also seen far less discipline. To be both fair and clear, the red card highlights I'm seeing are mostly 2CT and DOGSO. So I'm not trying to claim that UCL referees have a different calibration for SFP when they are in Saudi Arabia.
January 10 Al Faisaly - Al Nassr Szymon Marciniak (POL), Pawel Sokolnicki (POL), Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL), Tomasz Marciniak (POL) Al Taawon - Al Hazm Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR), Kim Haglund (NOR), Magnus Lundberg (NOR), Majed Al Shamrani (KSA) Al Wahda - Al Fateh Viktor Kassai (HUN), Gyorgy Ring (HUN), Peter Berettyan (HUN), Adam Farkas (HUN) Al Quasidiya - Al Ittihad Mark Clattenburg (ENG), Jake Collin (ENG), Bader Al Shamrani (KSA), Radu Petrescu (ROU)
January 11 Al Hilal - Al Raed Damir Skomina (SVN), Jure Praprotnik (SVN), Robert Vukan (SVN), Gyorgy Ring (HUN) Al Shabab - Al Feiha Pawel Raczkowski (POL), Pawel Sokolnicki (POL), Tomasz Listkiewicz (POL), Tomasz Marciniak (POL) Al Batin - Al Ittifaq Pavel Kralovec (CZE), Ivo Nadvornik (CZE), Tomas Mokrusch (CZE), Shukri Al Hanfosh (KSA) Al Ahli - Ohod Paulo Silvio Mazzoleni (ITA), Mauro Vivenzi (ITA), Filippo Valeriani (ITA), Piero Giacomelli (ITA) Mazzoleni makes the debut for Italian referees. Local referees starting to be used in the AR/4O roles. Will they be used in the center any time soon?
I was curious about Mazzoleni’s appointment. I think maybe he’s taking advantage of a little time out of the spotlight after a very controversial Inter-Napoli on Boxing Day. He received a lot of criticism for not responding to racist chants directed toward Koulibaly. My other thought was maybe the crew would be used for the Supercoppa game being played 1/16 in Jedda (Milan-Juventus). But I was wrong about that - it’s been assigned to Luca Banti, with Guida as VAR.
Your first instinct is correct. But it's more like "given" rather than "taking." The Italian federation had thus far refused to send referees to Saudi Arabia. They relented and used it as a place for Mazzoleni to have some down time.
King's Cup Round of 16 Al Feiha - Al Nassr Ovidiu Hategan (ROU), Octavian Sovre (ROU), Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU), Stefan Kovacs (ROU) Al Taqdom - Al Ittihad Khaled Saleh Al Taries (KSA), Faisal Al Qahtani (KSA), Omar Al Jamel (KSA), Mohammed Al Nuhait (KSA) Al Hilal - Al Faisaly Milorad Mazic (SRB), Milovan Ristic (SRB), Dalibor Djurdjevic (SRB), Nemanja Petrovic (SRB) A mix of Elite UEFA and Saudi referees for the Round of 16.
Al Batin - Al Raed Shukri Al Hanfosh (KSA), Mohammad Al Wahimer (KSA), Saad Al-Subaiee (KSA), Khaled Salwi (KSA) Abha - Al Jeel Faisal Alblwi (KSA), Bader Al Shamrani (KSA), Hisham Al Refai (KSA), Turki Al-Hashlan (KSA) Two Saudi crews for today's Round of 16 matches. Who saw that coming?
Al Taawon - Al Shabab Ovidiu Hategan (ROU), Octavian Sovre (ROU), Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU), Stefan Kovacs (ROU) Al Qaisoma - Al Ittifaq Mohammad Al Hoaish (KSA), Yasser Al Sultan (KSA), Majed Al Nasser (KSA), Naif Al Morekhi (KSA) Al Ahli - Al Wahda Milorad Mazic (SRB), Milovan Ristic (SRB), Dalibor Djurdjevic (SRB), Nemanja Petrovic (SRB) Hategan and Mazic with two R16 matches each, with the remaining four matches going to Saudi crews.
27 January 2019 Al Feiha - Al Hilal Kevin Blom (NED), Bakary Camara (GAM), El Hadji Malick Samba (SEN), Nenad Dokic (SRB) Al Fateh - Al Quasidiya Mohammed Al Hoaish (KSA), Bader Al Shamrani (KSA), Khalaf Al Shamari (KSA), Faisal Alblwi (KSA) First Saudi crew in the league for a very long time. African assistants being used as well.
January 28 Al Batin - Al Faisaly Khaled Al Teris (KSA), Faisal Al Qahtani (KSA), Hisham Al Refai (KSA), Sultan Al-Harbi (KSA) Al Nassr - Ohod Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR), Kim Haglund (NOR), Magnus Lundberg (NOR), Nenad Dokic (SRB) Al Wahda - Al Hazm Daniel Stefanski (POL), Marcin Boniek (POL), Radoslav Siejka (POL), Ivan Bebek (CRO) Al Taawon - Al Ahli Mark Clattenburg (ENG), Johnathan Bryant (WAL), Ian Bird (WAL), Danilo Grujic (SRB) Another Saudi crew in action.
January 29 Al Raed - Al Ittifaq Simon Lee Evans (WAL), Johnathan Bryan (WAL), Ian Bird (WAL), Sami Al Jires (KSA) Al Ittihad - Al Shabab Bakary Gassama (GAM), Djibril Camara (SEN), El Hadji Malick Samba (SEN), Ivan Bebek (CRO) Gassama makes a debut for African referees.
Oh boy... and who is that guy in the suit he does the second OFR with? And letting the coaches surround him... it appears he’s not quite what he used to be.