Rwanda’s Mukansanga first African woman referee to be appointed for FIFA World Cup

FIFA has appointed three centre referees including Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga to officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

The tournament to attract 32 teams and five from Africa will take place in Qatar from November 21^st to 18 December 18^th, 2022.

FIFA’s Referees Committee today announced the officials selected for the World Cup 2022 that includes 36 centre referees, 69 assistant referees, and 24 video match officials.

Mukansanga who also officiated at the 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon this year is among the three female centre referees selected. The others include; Stephanie Frappart (France) and Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan).

The other three assistant female referees also appointed for the first time include; Neuza Back (Brazil), Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico) and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA).

“As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” said the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina. “The 2018 World Cup was very successful, partly because of the high standard of refereeing, and we will do our best to be even better in a few months in Qatar.”

The selected match officials whose assessment started in 2019 will participate in early summer in several seminars (Asunción, Madrid and Doha), reviewing and analysing video clips of real match situations, and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from the instructors.

The other African match officials include;

Centre referees: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria), Bakkary Gassama (Gambia), Victor Gomes (South Africa), Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) and Maguette Ndiaye (Senegal).

Assistant referees: Africa include; Mahmoud Abouelregal (Egypt), Djibril Camara (Senegal), El Hadji Samba (Senegal), Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria), Mokrane Gourari (Algeria), Arsenio Marengule (Mozambique), Zakhele Siwela (South Africa), Elvis Noupue (Cameroon), Jerson Dos Santos (Angola), Souru Phatsoane (Lesotho)

Video Match Officials: Redouane Jiyed (Morocco), Adil Zourak (Morocco)