By Maimbo Mweemba
Zambia Super League referee Janny Sikazwe has been selected as one of only two center referees from Africa that will officiate at the FIFA Arab Cup which is a dress rehearsal of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has confirmed.
The Zambian top referee is joined by top Gambian referee Papa Gassama who officiated the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations Final match on 8 February 2015 between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia and 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Sikazwe himself is not new to the global refereeing stage as he refereed the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup Final in Japan between Spanish club Real Madrid, representing UEFA as the reigning champions of the UEFA Champions League, and Japanese club Kashima Antlers, Real Madrid won the match 4-2 with Cristiano Ronaldo netting a hat-trick.
He was selected to officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and made his debut in Belgium vs Panama Group G game on 18 June. The match also saw him going into the record books as he became the first Zambian referee to officiate a game at the FIFA World Cup finals.
The FIFA Referees Committee has appointed 52 match officials (12 referees, 24 assistant referees, and 16 video match officials) from 27 countries and all six confederations to officiate the first FIFA Arab Cup™, to be held in Qatar.
The tournament will kick off on Tuesday November,30, 2021 with the match between Tunisia and Mauritania at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Hosts Qatar will open their campaign on the same day against Bahrain at the Al Bayt Stadium. The inaugural FIFA Arab Cup will conclude with the final on Saturday 18 December 2021, also at Al Bayt.
The tournament, which will include the use of VAR technology, represents another important step on the road to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ for the match officials involved.
