The CAF Referees Committee has included three female referees and a Nigerian, Samuel Pwadutakam, as part of the twenty-five man list of match officials for the upcoming under twenty-three Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The list, as obtained by correspondent, showed that twelve referees and thirteen assistant referees were selected for the tournament scheduled for November eight to twenty-two.CAF, in a statement on its website, said the female referees were appointed for the second time as part of its commitment to develop female referees’ capacity.
Three female match officials were earlier appointed for the under seventeen AFCON in Tanzania in April, a first in the history of male CAF competitions.Head of CAF Refereeing, Eddy Maillet, said, “With the under twenty-three AFCON serving as a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, it will be very competitive, so having Salma Mukasanga, one of their top referees, who of late officiated at last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, is a tremendous advantage for CAF.
He said she will be supported at the under twenty-three AFCON by two equally skilled experts, Fathia Jermouni and Diana Chikotesha.
The tournament will see hosts Egypt in Group A with Mali, Cameroon and Ghana against title holders Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and Zambia will complete the pack in Group B.The two venues for the under twenty-three AFCON are the Cairo International Stadium and Al Salam Stadium.
The teams to finish in the top three according to CAF, will qualify to represent Africa at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.
Comments are closed for this post.