The football game can not be played without a referee and for that case it was very much necessary to introduce referees in the game in order to judge the game. Referees are commonly known in European football but it’s of no surprise that in Africa referees have upgraded to the best level. Here are the best 10 referees.
10. Bamlack Tessema (Ethiopia). He is also a medical professional and a medical researcher from Addis Ababa university. He started the proffesional career of officiating in 2003 as he was the referee for the Djibouti vs Somalia in 2010. In CECAFA cup 2010 he was so active as he officiated 5 matches including a final of Tanzania and Ivory coast . Also officiated 4 matches in CECAFA 2011. In 2009 he became an international referee and he was given responsibility in the world cup qualifiers 2014. He has also officiated matches in club worldcup and many more tournaments.
9. Bakery Gassama(Gambia). In 2007 he became a recognized referee under FIFA. In 2012 he officiated some matches in the Olympics games. He was also the fourth official of the gold medal between Brazil and Mexico. In 2012 he also served as a referee in the AFCON tournament and 2014 worldcup qualifiers in particular. In March 2023 Gassama was announced by FIFA as one of the 50 potential referees for 2014 world cup. Fifa later announced that Gassama would be one of the 25 referees at world cup.
8. Gehad Zaglol(Egypt). Since 2006 he has been the fifa referee and an elite member of CAF since 2013. He made his debut in 2012 AFCON officiating a match between Ivory coast and Burkina Faso. The most significant part of him he became a referee in the 2018 world cup officiating a match between England and Panama.
7. Janny Zikazwe( zambia). He became to find his right foot when he was called to replace a referee in COSAFA cup in south Africa in 2008. He is mostly known for his regular yellow cards he gives in matches and he doesn’t like stopping games. In 2015 he was one of the referees in the AFCON tournament. In 2016 Fifa club world cup in Japan he was the referee and in 2017 he was the referee at the final in Gabon. In 2018 fifa world cup he was also selected as one of the referees and he made his debut in the match of Belgium vs Panama. This made him the first Zambian referee at world cup level. He also officiated the match against Poland and Japan in the same world cup.
6. Malang Diedhiou(Senegal). He has officiated matches at different levels including AFCON, summer Olympics and served on the assistant video referee in 2017 fifa confederations cup. He was also a referee in fifa club word cup in 2017 and in worldcup 2018 in Russia. He has been nominated as the best referee in Africa on different occasions.
5. Gladys Lengwe(Zambia). She is the best female referee we have in Africa. She was an official in 2019 women world cup in france. She became the first female referee to officiate top flight matches and in that year she was voted referee of the year in her country in 2012. In 2016 she was one of the officials in the women’s Olympic football tournament in Rio.
4. Eddy Maillet(Seychelles). One of the few coaches from Seychelles to have existed ever. Since 2001 he has been serving under FIFA. After 3 years he officiated 3 matches in the AFCON. He was also selected to officiate some games in the Asia cup. He has also served as the referee in the u17 world cup. He has also officiated in the fifa club world cup.
3. Noumandiez Doue(Ivory coast). In 2004 he became a referee under FIFA. He has officiated many games including 2010,2012 and 2013 AFCON. In 2011 he also officiated in the u17 worldcup. 2011 caf champions and 2011 fifa club world cup he also took responsibility of those tournaments. He was named the referee of the year by CAF. In 2014 he was also selected to take charge of some matches in world cup.
2. Badara Diatta(Senegal). He is known for being one of the no nosence referees in Africa. He is very pludent on play ground as he officiates his games. Badara has been an international referee since 1999. The matches he has officiated are really endless we shall take a look at a few of them. He was at 2008 Olympics and 2008, 2010, and 2012 AFCON tournament. He was also one time named the CAF referee of the year. In 2007 he was banned by CAF unfortunately. He was aslo selected in the 54 referees to take charge of the Fifa World Cup in south Africa though he didn’t make it finally.
1. Djamel Haimoudi(Algeria). Its of no doubt that he is the best African referee according to his profile. He became the CAF referee of the year 2 years consecutive. He took charge of the caf champions league matches and world cup qualifiers. In 2014 he was in brazil to take charge of world games in brazil. He officiated four games in 2014 world cup including a match for the third run ups.
In Africa he is the greatest referee of all time no question on that.
