Mukansanga, Njoroge to handle Portugal – Vietnam FIFA Women’s World Cup match

Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga will be the referee when Portugal face Vietnam in a Group E match at the on-going FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 on Thursday.

The match will take place at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand where each of the sides will he all out to try and register a win after losing their opening matches.

Mukansanga who was also one of the referees at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar will handle the match together with Kenya’s Mary Njoroge and Queency Victoire (Mauritius) as assistant referees.

The top Rwanda referee has also officiated at the Olympics, Africa Women’s Cup of Nations,  CAF Women’s Champions League and the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.

The other African pair from Morocco of Bouchra Karboubi (referee), and assistants Soukaina Hamdi and Fatiha Jermoumi also handled a Group E match between USA and Vietnam few days ago.

Ali Mohamed Ahmed, the head of referees at the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations and a member of the CAF referees Committee said it was a good moment to see referees from the Zone officiate at a World Cup. ” All we can do is to wish them well and also hope that their appearance at the big stage inspires other referees to keep working hard, ” added Ahmed.