Abdulla Afeef, also known as Haajee among his family, friends, and community, is a 37-year-old who currently works in MNDF. He is also in the referee career, that he started while playing football and due to his love for football. He has spent more than 10 years as a referee.

During our interview, Afeef mentioned that his biggest difficulty as a referee is that there is no futsal league in Maldives and there are no opportunities available to referee in international matches- no opportunities to become a FIFA or UEFA futsal referee.

His dream is to referee an international match and to become an UEFA or FIFA futsal referee. He also dreams of seeing the Maldives futsal team play in international tournaments. To see his dreams of the Maldives futsal team playing in international tournaments, he believes that the first step would be for the relevant authorities to build an UEFA standard indoor futsal pitch. That way, the opportunity for Maldives to perform and to perform well, in international tournaments increases.

As for Afeef, during his referee career, his biggest achievements by far are that he refereed the finals of the biggest futsal tournaments in Maldives that being: Club Maldives cup, Golden Futsal Tournament as well the Inter Resort Futsal League. He refereed the final of Club Maldives Cup more than three times. Additionally, he refereed all the final matches of the biggest tournaments in 2019.

To progress futsal within Maldives, Afeef mentioned that we need to correct the thoughts surrounding futsal and to create a futsal league. He also suggested creating a rule that professional football players in Maldives shouldn’t be allowed to play futsal during tournaments. This will lead to a creation of more potential players in Maldives. Within the islands, as there are less players, they mostly play futsal and spend their time practicing futsal. Additionally, it is also important to change the pitch to the EUFA standard. Due to the increase in demand for futsal tournaments, the demand for referees also increase, which helps in their income.

Afeef thanked the MNDF, FAM, coaches and players for their constant support, during our interview. He believes that it is because of their help, that he has come this far.