First Female Referee to Officiate AFCON Match, Salima Mukansanga Named Among Referees to Officiate World Cup

• Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga has been included in a list of top-notch 36 referees to officiate at the 2022 World Cup
• She is one of three women referees appointed by FIFA for Qatar 2022 and will also include France’s Stephanie Frappart and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita, among the 36 match officials
• Salima earlier made history by becoming the first woman to ever officiate at the African Cup of Nations in a Group B game between Guinea and Malawi

Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga has been named among 36 referees to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Salima, who became the first female referee to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations, has been included in the crème de la crème of officials named for the upcoming Mundial.

She is among six female match officials appointed for the global showpiece, the first time in the history of the World Cup.

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“We are very happy that … we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup,” FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina said as quoted by Capital Sports.

“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments."

“In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender. I would hope that in the future, the selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational.”

Salima is not the only African named on the list as Gambia's Bakary Gassama, Mustapha Ghorbal of Algeria, Ndiaye Maguette from Senegal, South Africa's Victor Gomes and Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe are all included in the 36 referees for the global spectacle.

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Salima Mukansanga becomes first female referee to officiate at the AFCON

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga on Monday, January 10, made history by becoming the first woman to ever officiate at the African Cup of Nations which is an incredible record.

Before the 34-year-old got the chance to referee the Group B match between Guinea and Malawi, Salima Mukansanga had undergone a series of training and has many times acted as the 4th official.

Salima is one of the most respected female officiators in football, having already taken charge of games at the Women’s World Cup, Africa Women’s Cup of Nations and the CAF Women’s Champions League.