Bamlack Tessema who officiated the Senegal Bukina Faso’s 1:3 game was rated the best AFCON 2021 refree due to how he controlled the game with outright professionalism. He had a great day officiating the crunch cagey encounter between the Stellion of Bukina Faso & the Teranga Lions of Senegal. Football fans across the globe including Uganda commended him for being accurate and ensuring precision as being a sportsman,a medical researcher and Clinical Coordinator.
Relatedly the tournament officiation has been commended for the good work except for few instances with less integrities such as the stampede that saw 8 people perish. At least eight people were killed in a stampede as spectators – many suspected to be without tickets – avoided slack controls in attempting to enter Yaounde’s Olembe Stadium to watch the home team in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Rioting and stampedes at African stadiums have taken a deadly toll over the decades with a recurring pattern of incidents, culminating in the latest disaster in Cameroon at the beginning of the tournament. Such incidences are common in most leagues inclusive of the Startimes Uganda Premier Leagues where we have seen many clubs banned or fined for failing to control their fans such as BUL Fc & the West Nile based Ouduparaka fc same in AFON2021. Ugandan world known professional match security Bond Okello was requested to design a security plan for the next games which he absolutely executed and avoided similar incidences.
Another query happened in a game that saw Mali beat Tunisia 1-0 in a controversial Group F game that was ended prematurely twice by referee Janny Sikazwe, who later tried to play the final four minutes only for the North Africans to refuse. He sparked controversy when he ended the group stage fixture 13 seconds early on January 12, having also been forced to restart the game after blowing his full-time whistle five minutes before the full 90 was up. However he later claimed God told him to stop the match early before the 90mins or else he dies of heartstroke!
Rwandan female FIFA referee Salima Mukansanga also made history for being the fist woman center refree to officiate in AFCON game. She told media that she wants to inspire many female sports persons and looks forward to their support all over the world.