Sports

FIFA names three Moroccan female referees for 2023 Women’s World Cup

Published

1 year ago

January 10, 2023

World football governing body, FIFA, has named three Moroccan females referees to officiate at the 2023 Women’s World Cup scheduled for Australia and New Zealand from 20 July and 20 August.

The trio, Bouchra Karboubi, Soukaina Hamdi, and Fatiha Jermoumi, were selected after their recent sterling performances at FIFA tournaments as well as other international and domestic competitions, FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FIFA list of appointed match officials features Karboubi as main referee while Jermoumi and Hamdi were named assistant referees for the international tournament.

“As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected on-field match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, said in the statement.

Another Moroccan referee, Adil Zourak, was named as the video match official (VMOs).

Karboubi made headlines in 2022 after she became the first female referee to officiate the final match of Morocco’s Throne Cup while Jermoumi was also chosen as Karboubi’s assistant referee in the same match.

Karboubi set another personal record in 2020 when she became the first female referee to oversee a match in Morocco’s top-tier professional football league, the Botola Pro 1.

Jermoumi was also present as an assistant referee during the historic match, reflecting the Royal Moroccan Football Federation’s (FRMF) vision of promoting and regularly selecting female referees to oversee men’s games.

Related Topics:Featured FIFA Morocco Referees Women's World Cup

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Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

21 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.

Sports

Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.