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She became the first African woman referee to officiate at the Men’s World Cup in 2022 in Qatar.
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She was selected alongside three other African women referees.
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The tournament is to take place in Australia and New Zealand.
Salma Mukansanga, Rwandan international referee has been selected to officiate in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup scheduled to hold from July 20th to August 20th in Australia and New Zealand.
34-year-old Mukansanga made history at the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar where she became the first African woman referee to officiate at the tournament. She is currently ranked among the top African referees, having also been the first woman to handle the men’s game at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The referee was selected alongside three other African female referees including Vincentia Amedome from Togo, Morocco’s Bouchra Karboubi, and Akhona Makalima from South Africa. She has also officiated at the Olympics games, WAFCON, and CAF Women’s Champions League.
The 9th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup will bring together 32 teams to compete for the glittering trophy. The tournament will be the first Women’s World Cup to take place under FIFA’s overhauled commercial structure that was announced in 2021 and was for the first time “unbundled” the women’s game from the men’s, allowing brands to take up dedicated partnerships exclusively for its women’s football programmes.
In 2022 when she became the first woman to referee at the African Cup Nations, she led an all-woman officiating team of Fatiha Jermoumi from Morocco, Cameroon’s Carine Atemzabong and Bouchra Karboubi from Morocco as the VAR. She was also an official at the 2019 FIFA Women’s Cup that was held in France.
Mukansanga was the fourth official when France, the defending champions, defeated Australia 4-1. She also earned recognition as one of the BBC 100 Women in December 2022.