South African referee Akhona Makalima has been selected as one of the officials for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Earlier yesterday, the FIFA Referees Committee announced the names of the match officials selected for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.
A total of 33 referees, 55 assistant referees and 19 video match officials (VMOs) have been confirmed to form part of the FIFA Team One.
At the age of 23 Makalima became the first certified female soccer referee in South Africa, where she officiated for FIFA, the Premier Soccer League, the SASOL Women’s League, and the South African Football Association (SAFA).
Raised in a poor community in Eastern Cape, Makalima became known in her village at a young age for her speed. She was encouraged to run track and play soccer and other sports. A lack of sports programs and leagues, however, led her to pick up refereeing.
“She-Ref ” as she is affectionately known in the soccer space, has made headlines after officiating DStv Premiership and CAF Champions League games over the last 12 months is ranked as one of the finest referees in Africa.
She was also part of the 2022 WAFCON tournament where Banyana Banyana were crowned African Champions for the first time in history.
Kari Seitz, FIFA’s Head of Women Refereeing, revealed on FIFA’s website that the match officials will continue to receive all necessary support from FIFA, as their preparation is paramount.
“With critical time lost due to the pandemic in preparation for the Women’s World Cup, we developed some new programmes to accelerate our referee development, such as our very effective Tracking & Support programme, where each referee candidate was assigned a FIFA coach who provided feedback on their matches each month. This programme will continue to be critical in the final phase of preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”
Australia and New Zealand will co-host the ninth FIFA Women’s World Cup between the 20th of July and the 20th of August 2023.
Thirty-two nations will compete in the Women’s World Cup for the first time. The tournament started off as a 12-team tournament in 1991, it was expanded to include 16 countries at USA 1999 and 24 at Canada 2015.
29 teams have qualified for the tournament so far including Desiree Ellis’ chargers Banyana Banyana, three more teams still have to qualify and are set to play in the 10 team play-off tournament, set to take place between the 18th and 23rd of February 2023.
Teams that have qualified are:
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China PR, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea Republic, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Vietnam, Zambia.
