The Janny continues: Sikazwe heads to the World Cup

Zambian top FIFA referee Janny Sikazwe has been selected to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Sikazwe is among the 36 centre referees selected for the biggest football showpiece by the governing body FIFA.

Sikazwe leads a six member group of whistle men from the Confederation of African football.

Sikazwe will be at the centre of this Friday’s CAF Confederation Cup final between South African giants Orlando Pirates and RS Berkane of Morocco.

In June 2018, The man from Kapiro Mposhi became the first ever Zambian referee to take charge of a game at a World Cup, controlling the whistle in two World Cup 2018 group games – Belgium vs Panama and Japan vs Poland.

Others are South African, Victor Gomez, Bakary Gassama of Gambia, Algerian Mustapha Ghorbal, Maguette N’diaye of Senegal and Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda.

Salima who became the first woman to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations in the group stages at the earlier this year, is one of the first three Women in the history of the FIFA World Cup, to be selected by the FIFA Referees Committee.

Salima, Stéphanie Frappart from France, and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, as well as assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina from Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt from the USA will be making history in Qatar.

36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials have been chosen in close cooperation with the six confederations, based on their quality and the performances delivered at FIFA tournaments as well as at other international and domestic competitions in recent years.

The selected match officials will participate in early summer in several seminars (Asunción, Madrid and Doha), reviewing and analysing video clips of real match situations, and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from the instructors.