African news. Salima Mukansanga makes history once more after being appointed as one of the referees to officiate matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The 34-year-old first made history after being the first woman to officiate the men’s Africa Cup of Nations held in Cameroon in 2021. Other women who were chosen by the FIFA officials include Stephanie Frappart of France and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan.
Three women have also been chosen as referee assistants. Neuza Back of Brazil, Mexican Karen Diaz Medina and Kathryn Nesbitt from the United States. A total of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials have been chosen for this year’s tournaments. (more news below)
Acording to Agence France Presse, the FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi said that he was very happy to be part of this milestone.
“We are very happy that we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in history of a FIFA World Cup” Said Pierluigi “This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments.”
Rwandanese Mukasansanga was also involved at the Tokyo Olympics when she took charge of Great Britain over Chile in Sapporo. In 2019, she was one of the officials of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
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