Yesterday, Saturday, a match was held between the Police team and its counterpart Najaf, as part of the sixteenth round of the Iraq Stars League, at the Cage Stadium in the capital, Baghdad, in a confrontation that witnessed great excitement on the field and widespread controversy off it.

The first half saw a relative advantage for the Police team, crowned by scoring the first goal in the (45+5) minute of injury time, through the Cameroonian professional Lionel Atiba, ending the first half with Al-Qithara leading by one goal to none.

In the second half, the Najaf team tried to return to the atmosphere of the match and succeeded in achieving the equalizer in the (71) minute, through player Sajad Raad, bringing the match back to square one.

Upon reaching the (90) minute, the match referee decided to add (14) minutes as injury time, a decision that drew objections from the Najaf team, which considered the added time to be greatly exaggerated, before the Police took advantage of the additional minutes and Lionel Atiba managed to score the second winning goal in the (90+15) minute, securing Al-Qithara's victory with a score of (2-1).

In light of what happened, the Najaf Club issued an official statement expressing its strong objection to the refereeing decisions, stating:

"The interim administrative body of Najaf Sports Club expresses its deep dissatisfaction and objection to the refereeing decisions issued by some referees in the matches of the Najaf football team this season in the Iraq Stars League.

No match played by the team is free from those unjust errors that have clearly affected the team's technical and moral state, the latest of which was what happened in the Police match, after the match referee Wathiq Mohammed added (14) minutes as injury time, in an unprecedented move not seen in any matches, which is an extremely strange and exaggerated time, allowing the Police team to score the winning goal in the (15) minute of extra time, even exceeding the time added by the referee.

What happened contradicts the principles of justice and integrity that are supposed to be the basis of refereeing work, raising many questions about the mechanism of selecting referees and the level of evaluating their performance.

Therefore, we demand a serious and transparent investigation and holding those responsible accountable, and working to improve the refereeing level to ensure the rights of the teams and enhance trust in the football system.

The situation has reached its peak, and silence is no longer acceptable, and the club administration will only accept the realization of justice through an independent investigative committee, and also demands the appointment of Arab or foreign referees to manage the team's upcoming sensitive matches, otherwise the concerned parties bear full responsibility for what may happen in the future. And God is the ultimate purpose."

With this victory, the Police team continued its journey in the Iraq Stars League, while the controversy over the refereeing level in the competition increased, amid growing demands to review the mechanism of match management in the upcoming rounds.