Mohammad Al-Emara (born 26 February 1992) is a Finnish FIFA-listedfootball referee. He has been named theVeikkausliiga Referee of the Year in six consecutive seasons (2018–2023), voted by the league players.[1][2] Since 2025, Al-Emara is a UEFA First Category referee. Currently he resides inHelsinki.
Al-Emara’s parents are from SouthernIraq, and were forced to flee the country in 1991. They ended up in arefugee camp inRafha, Saudi-Arabia, where Al-Emara was born the following year.[3] He moved with his family toKuopio, Finland in 1994 at an early age,[4] where he started playing football when aged five. After the family had relocated toTurku, Finland, Al-Emara continued football in the youth sectors ofTurun Nappulaliiga (TuNL) andFC Inter Turku. Later the family moved toVarissuo neighbourhood in Turku. Al-Emara was part of the Inter Turku U17 team, winning the Finnish U17 championship. He also played in the third-tier levelKakkonen, before ending his playing career in 2011.[5]
Al-Emara started refereeing in 2012, and two years later he refereed in Kakkonen.[6] He moved on to second-tierYkkönen in 2016. On 26 August 2017, he debuted inVeikkausliiga in a match betweenSJK andJJK. In the2018 Ykkönen season, in a match betweenHaka andKTP inTehtaan kenttä,Valkeakoski, Al-Emara temporarily suspended the match and ordered the teams to locker rooms for 10 minutes, after a spectator had been using racial slurs and offensive language on a player repeatedly, of which they were warned first.[5][7][8][9] Later the spectator was escorted out of the stadium, and the match was able to continue.
He has actively been speaking about racism and inequality in football and in society,[15][16][17] and for the safety and respect for the referees.[18][19][20][21] He was awardedMielenterveyspalkinto(eng. Mental health prize) by MIELI Ry in 2023, for his work against racism.[22][23][24]
In August 2024, Al-Emara stopped a game betweenAC Oulu andFC Inter Turku at theRaatti Stadium following racist shouts from the crowd. He was later seen having a heated argument with representatives of the local AC Oulu team, who said that it was a challenge to identify a person in the crowd, but that the fan who had insulted Al-Emara had been identified and that they would face consequences, adding that the club has "zero tolerance" for racism.[28]
