Rwanda’s top female referee Salma Radia Mukansanga has been named among referees who will officiate at the Tokyo Olympics games set to take place from July 21 to August 7 this year. The 30-year-old is also among candidates for the FIFA Womens World Cup 2023 set for Australia-New Zealand. She is the only female central referee in the 2018/2019 Azam Rwanda Premier League season. In 2019, Mukansanga was among 75 women who officiated the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France in June. Reputed as the best and most popular female referee Rwanda has ever produced, Mukansanga was the sole African match official at the U-17 Women’s World Cup, and is one of only three African referees at last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup along with Gladys Lengwe of Zambia and Ethiopia’s Lidya Tafesse Abebe. Born and raised in Rusizi, a district in West Province, the young lady who never dreamed she would became an international referee decided to pursue her studies at the University of Gitwe (Central) where she later graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and Midwifery. 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 Nigeria and Tanzania, and the semi-final clash between Ghana and Ivory Coast. The year, she was one of the referees that handled the 2015 CECAFA Women Challenge Cup that took place in Jinja, Uganda – which was won by Tanzania. In 2016, Mukansanga was among 47 referees that handled the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Cameroon, and was in charge of the tournament’s final match between the hosts and Nigeria, which ended 1-0 in favor of the Super Falcons of Nigeria.
