Joe Apu
The Confederation of African Football is set to name three female match officials who took part in a training course as part of preparations for the Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) Cameroon 2020, earlier scheduled for April 4-25.
The trio – Ethiopian central referee Lidya Tafesse and assistant referees, Bernadettar Kwimbira (Malawi) and Mimisen Iyorhe (Nigeria) joined their male counterparts, 19 referees and 19 assistant referees for a five-day course held from March 10-14, at the Technical Centre of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in Rabat.
It will be third major men’s competitions to have female match officials after the Total U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Tanzania 2019 and the Total U-23 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2019.
According to CAF Refereeing Director, Eddy Maillet, the decision is to provide a platform of more competitions for the female referees, considering the limited number of women’s tournaments and also to improve their match fitness.