A First Woman Referee at AFCON and a Great Win for Zimbabwe’s Sports Teams, Fans Celebrate Historic Day

A First Woman Referee at AFCON and a Great Win for Zimbabwe’s Sports Teams, Fans Celebrate Historic Day

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:54 PM
In this article:
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CAF AFCON
Africa
  • Rwanda's Salima Mukansanga made history when she became the first woman to referee an AFCON game
  • Zimbabwe's sporting teams enjoyed a good day as their cricket and hockey sides won and their soccer team beat Guinea
  • Fans took to social media to celebrate as Salima Mukansanga and Zimbabwe's sports teams made history

Zimbabwe beat Guinea in an entertaining encounter in Group B at AFCON 2021 but it was the referee that's getting the most attention on social media following the game.

ZImbabwe, Salima Mukansanga, Guinea, AFCON, Soccer, Sport
It was a historic day for Zimbabwe's sports teams and for referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda. Image: Kenzo Tribouillard
Source: Getty Images

Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda made history as she became the first woman referee for an AFCON game, IOL confirmed.

Zimbabwe also notched up a bit of their own history as three of their sporting teams all recorded victories and social media rejoiced in the all-around good day for sports.

@albertchekayi:

"What a good day for Zimbabwe sport. There is still life in our sport, if we can ONLY BELIEVE AND ACT!! Chevrons win in Sri Lanka, Warriors beat Guinea and Flames (Women's Hockey national team) beat Uganda. #FambaZimbabwefamba! @ZBCNewsonline"

@Chandisarewa96:

"Let's keep Norman Mapeza, retire the old guys and start building a team around the young guys, Zemura, Muskwe etc. Especially the guys from Europe, no offense, they're just more comfortable with the ball. The Future is exciting!! #ZIMGUI"

@SeanTafirenyika:

"With this win, it's a thing of what could have been for Zim. This was such a huge opportunity missed in this tournament. If we had drawn with Senegal. If Wadi had buried those gilt-edge chances against Malawi. Let's keep Norman Mapeza tho"

On the first woman referee:

@Bwanayisuka:

"Rwanda is proud of you Salma"

@louisewamuhirwa:

"She is better than Anthony Taylor"

@oosely:

"Watch her do better than some premier league referees"

@solomonodame182

"In fact this is beautiful. .. I want to see more women officiating men's game"

AFCON 2021: Zimbabwe beat Guinea 2-1 in Group B, Warriors end their campaign in style

Zimbabwe went into their Group B clash with Guinea knowing that they would finish bottom of the group no matter what the outcome, but no one seemed to have told them that as they beat their more fancied opponents, 2-1.

Zimbabwe made nine changes to the team that lost to Malawi as coach Norman Mapeza decided to give everyone a chance to compete in the tournament and compete they did, Sports Brief earlier reported.

Despite the numerous changes, the Warriors played like a team fighting for their place in the competition and took a 2-0 lead going into half-time. Zimbabwe's captain for the day Knowledge Musona opened the scoring for Zimbabwe in the 26th minute, heading in from close range as he found himself free in the box.

Authors
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Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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