A board member of the Nigeria Women’s Football League Henrietta Ukaigwe has stated that the trailblazing decision by Confederation of African Football, CAF, that will see three female match officials officiate at a men’s top tournament in the continent for the first time in history is commendable as it will make refereeing in the league improve.
The trio of Jonesia Rukyaa Kabakana who hails from Tanzania, Kenya’s Mary Wanjiru Njoroge and Lidwine Rakotozafinoro from Madagascar were among the 29- match officials listed by the Confederation of African Football for the 2019 U-17 AFCON, a move which Ukaigwe told www.brila.net will be “a good reason for women to aspire to officiate on just a dual stage but somewhat bigger stage.”
She also added that it would attract more women to venture into refereeing especially former players and “would make other referees in our women’s league back here sit up and know that the world is watching.”
The historic appointment of the three women referees for Tanzania 2019 was made at the Caf Referees Committee meeting held recently in Cairo.
The 29 referees will attend a training course ahead of preparation for the tournament in Morocco scheduled to be held from March 31 to April 4 in Morocco.
During the course, 15 referees and 14 assistant referees from 25 countries will undergo a medical, physical and theoretical test for the final tournament scheduled for April 14-28 in Tanzania.
The eight-team competing are Nigeria, Angola, Uganda, Guinea, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal and host Tanzania, with the semi-finalists to represent Africa at the 2020 Fifa U17 World Cup.
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