Rwanda’s renowned female football referee Salma Mukansanga has been confirmed to officiate the 2020 Summer Olympics games scheduled to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, a senior sport official told APA in Kigali on Tuesday.
“Mukansanga has been carefully selected and brings the highest standards of officiating to be expected for football’s biggest competitions,” the Secretary General of the Rwanda Football Federation, François Regis Uwayezu told APA.
In 2019, the 30-year old has also been selected – by the world football governing body – among match officials who handled the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Arguably the best and most famous female referee the country has ever produced, Mukansanga was the sole African match official at the U17 Women’s World Cup, and is one of only three African referees at this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup along with Gladys Lengwe of Zambia and Ethiopia’s Lidya Tafesse Abebe.
She is also the only female central referee in the men’s Azam Rwanda Premier League season.
Mukansanga aspired to become a professional basketball player in her youth days, but this never materialised, especially due to limited access to basketball infrastructure and decent coaching.
Rather, she developed passion for football refereeing during her final year of secondary school at St Vincent de Paul Musanze before earning her first certificate in match officiating the following year.
Mukansanga’s first international tournament was the women’s football competition at the 2015 All-Africa Games in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Among others, she was in charge of the opening match between powerhouse Nigeria and Tanzania, and the semi-final clash between Ghana and Ivory Coast.
CU/as/APA