Rwandan Salima Mukansanga: The first African woman to referee at a World Cup

2022 FIFA World up to commence in November

Senegalese referee who officiated Ghana-South Africa decider appointed for 2022 World Cup

Top African referee Bakary Gassama appointed for World Cup in Qatar

Rwandan female official, Salima Mukansanga, has been appointed to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Her appointment

Read full articlemakes her the first African female referee to be appointed for Men's FIFA World Cup.

Salima, 34, made history at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, becoming the first female referee to officiate at Africa's prestigious international competition.

She was in charge of the Group A match between Zimbabwe and Guinea that need in a 2-1 win for the Warriors.

Salima has officiated at the Olympics, FIFA Women’s World Cup, Africa Women Cup of Nations and CAF Women’s Champions League.

She is one of the three female referees named in the official list of FIFA released on Thursday, May 19, 2022, for the tournament in Qatar.

In total, 36 referees, 69 assistant referees, and 24 video match officials (VMOs) from six confederations will officiate at the tournament.

Six African officials were named on the list, including Bakary Gassama from the Gambia, Mustapha Ghorbal from Algeria, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda, Victor Gomez from South Africa, and Janny Sikazwe from Zambia.

All six referees officiated at the 2021 African Cup of Nations held in Cameroon.

Only two of the aforementioned names have officiated at the World Cup before, that is Gassama and Sikazwe.

Gassama,43, made his World Cup debut in 2014 when he officiated Group B clash between Netherlands and Chile. Whereas Sikazwe, 42, made his debut in 2018, officiating two games in the group stages, Belgium against Panama and Japan against Poland.

Also, 8 assistant referees were named on the list, taking Africa's total to 14 referees.

Africa will be represented by five countries including Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, and Morocco.

The 2022 edition of the World Cup is scheduled to start from November 21 to December 18.

Check out the full list below: