Budding Rwandan referee Samuel Uwikunda, 26, was the centre referee as Equatorial Guinea beat Guinea Bissau 4-2 at the Alassane Ouatarra Stadium on Thursday, January 18 in an AFCON 2023 Group A encounter.

The game was one with many goals, as Equatorial Guinea's Emilio Nsue Lopez scored a hat trick to inspire the "Nzalang" to their biggest victory ever in AFCON history.

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The Rwandan referee made a key call in the 40th minute as he reversed a yellow card that had been given to Equatorial Guinea's Saul Coco and canceled a subsequent penalty awarded to Guinea Bissau after consulting the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor.

Uwikunda officiated at the 2023 CHAN in Algeria and is currently among the best young referees in East Africa who are poised to excel in the refereeing career.

He has been officiating at CAF competitions for the past six years and is among the six centre referees chosen from the CECAFA zone to participate in the AFCON 2023 on Cote d'Ivoire.