CAF selects Nigerians Madu Ndidi Patience and Mimisen Agatha Iyorhe as referees for 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tournament in Morocco.

CAF Selects Two Nigerian Referees For WAFCON Tournament

Last updated Jun 17, 2022

Two Nigerian referees, Madu Ndidi Patience (Referee) and Mimisen Agatha Iyorhe (Assistant Referee), have been selected by CAF for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tournament scheduled to hold in Morocco next month.

CAF on Friday announced the names of 40 match officials selected for the WAFCON tournament that will be played between 02 July and 23 July 2022, in Rabat and Casablanca. The list comprises of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees and eight Video Assistant Referee (VAR) from 24 countries that were selected following a rigorous process.

This is a process that started a few years ago with 226 women match officials that were evaluated over this period – a product of CAF’s mission to improve the standard of match officiating in Africa and creating world class referees.

Rwandan Salima Mukansanga, who made history at the Africa Cup of Nations, tagged Cameroon 2021, by becoming the first woman to referee a match at the competition and was recently selected as the only female referee from Africa to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Mukansanga headlines the list alongside Bouchkra Karboubi (Morocco) and Carine Atezambong (Cameroon) – all part of that historic game in Cameroon.

“Africa has made serious leaps in the development of women match officials. This final list compromises of currently the best in the continent,” CAF Director of Refereeing Eddy Maillet said.

“It took us a long time to get here. The several workshops and training camps we held assisted us in getting to the final decision.”

“It was essential for us to bet on top quality, refereeing being one of the main priorities of CAF. And to fine-tune the last details, we are organising a preparation course for all the referees of the competition, starting from 25 June 2022 in Rabat.”

Read more: Meet Salima Mukansanga, Rwanda’s Female Referee At Qatar 2022
Read more: WAFCON 2022 Set For July 2nd Kick Off

The training and development of the referees included practical sessions in matches. CAF has been encouraging female referees to officiate in men’s national leagues in the continent.

The opening match of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, tagged Morocco 2022, will feature hosts Morocco and debutants Burkina Faso on the 2nd of July 2022, at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Complex in Rabat.

Chidi Nwoke/CAF.