Ethiopian Lidya Tafesse leads her assistants Bernadettar Kwimbira (Malawi), Mimisen Iyorhe (Nigeria) and Atezambong Fomo Carine (Cameroon) to the rescheduled CHAN 2020 Tournament in Cameroon.
According to information available to aclsports.com the tournament will take place from 16th January to 7th February 2021. The referees are expected to arrive in Yaounde between the 9th and 10th of January 2021 for refresher courses and fitness test in time for the tournament.
Tafesse and her women team will be the first time women to be used in a senior men’s CAF Tournament. Women referees have featured at the U17 and at the U23 levels previously.
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.
“We launched this ground-breaking initiative during the U-17 AFCON in Tanzania last April and the result was inspiring. During the U-23 AFCON in November in Egypt, the performance of the female referees was impressive which saw two of them (Fathia Jermouni and Salma Mukansanga) taking part in the third place match.
“The CHAN is the next senior competition after the Africa Cup of Nations, and it will provide a major platform for the female trio to prove that they are capable. It was interesting to see them compete for a spot in the final tournament with their male counterparts,” Maillet said.
There will be a total of 47 Match Officials including 8 for the VAR which will be in use during the tournament.
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in April this year but the break out of the Covid-19 Pandemic across the world meant it was postponed until 2021.
