South Africa will have just one on-field match official in the upcoming TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023. Despite being 2023 edition, the next Afcon will be hosted from January 13 2024 to February 11 in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Confederation Africaine de Football has officially announced the list of match officials for the biggest African football showpiece. In the list of 68 officials CAF named, South Africa will be represented by two officials – Abongile Tom and Akhona Makalima. However, Makalima is named among VAR officials while her compatriot Tom will blow the whistle.
The country has no representation among assistant referees group of 30. There are 26 referees in total and 12 VAR referees.
That CAF said in its statement its panel of match referees comprises of highly experienced individuals from across the continent is telling about the standard of refereeing in South Africa currently.
Morocco will have the biggest representation of match officials with six in total. The North Africa nation has three referees, two assistants and two VAR referees. Second best is Algeria with five in total.
Cote d’Ivoire and and Kenya match officials will have a meaningful presence with three match officials apiece. However, Nigerian, Ghanaian and Zimbabwean officials will be missing in the field action. At least Ghana will have one representative in the VAR booth.
All selected referees are expected to arrive in Cote d’Ivoire on January 5 2024 for a refresher course which will be inclusive of physical and theoretical testing of all officials.
For the full 2023 Afcon referees’ panel click this link: https://www.cafonline.com/media/hmclr42d/list-afcon-2023-selected-referees-2.pdf
