There will be no Zambian referee at this years CAF Under-23 Cup in Senegal.
CAF on Monday released the names of the 10 referees and 13 assistant referees to officiate at the tournament that will run from November 28 to December 12 and where Zambia are in Group A together with South Africa, Tunisia and hosts Senegal.
Jan Sikazwe made the cut for the inaugural tournament in 2011 where he refereed three games including a semifinal.
Referees
1-Redouane Jiyed (Morocco)
2-Zio Juste Ephrem (Burkina Faso)
3-Joshua Bondo(Botswana)
4-Mehdi Abid Charef(Algeria)
5-Hudu Munyemana (Rwanda)
6-Antoine Max Depadoux Effa Essouma
(Cameroon)
7-Nampiandra Hamada (Madagascar)
8-Sinko Bienvenu (Cote d’Ivoire)
9-Diedhiou Malang (Senegal)
10-Youssef Essrayri (Tunisia)
Assistant Referees:
1-Jerson dos Santos (Angola)
2-Arsenio Marengula (Mozambique)
3-Eldrick Adelaide (Seychelles)
4-Drissa Kamory Niare (Mali)
5-Berhe O. Michael (Eritrea)
6-Yahaya Mahamadou (Niger)
7-Mark Sonko (Uganda)
8-Samba Malik (Senegal)
9-Elmoiz Ali Mohamed Ahmed (Sudan)
10-Mahmoud Ahmed Abo el Regal (Egypt)
11-Issa Yaya (Chad)
12-Oliver Safari (DR Congo)
13-Sidiki Sidibe (Guinea)
Source: CAF
I seriously doubt the credibility of the selection criteria used here. Clearly, some of the referees are coming from countries where soccer league structures are either inferior or in shambles. Honestly, there is no justification to have referees from Botswana, Chad or Eritrea where Zambian referees have been left out. This is very painful especially when one considers Zambia’s soccer reputation in Africa let alone Southern Africa.