Salima Mukansanga
Salima Rhadia Mukansanga (born 1988) is a Rwandan international football referee, best known for making history as the first woman to referee a match at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in January 2022, and as one of the first six women to officiate at a men's World Cup, at Qatar 2022. She is regarded as one of the most prominent women in African refereeing, and as a role model for girls and women in football.
As a child, Mukansanga watched referees lead games, make decisions, show cards and manage players, and told herself she wanted to be like them. She has said that she started with little idea of how much a referee needs to learn: the laws to follow, the mentality and the professionalism, and that she learned it step by step, and that it took time to develop a feel for the job on the field of play. She faced rejection in the early days, in a field dominated by men.
Mukansanga officiated at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France and at the Tokyo Olympics, and in January 2022 was appointed to the AFCON in Cameroon. She was the fourth official for Guinea's 1-0 win over Malawi, and on 18 January 2022 became the first woman to take charge of a match at the tournament in its 65-year history, when Zimbabwe beat Guinea 2-1 in Yaoundé. Overcome by emotion, she thanked Rwandans in a brief interview after the game. In November 2022 she was one of three women referees, alongside Stéphanie Frappart of France and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan, selected for the men's World Cup in Qatar, where she was a fourth official for France against Australia, and she was later appointed to the 2023 Women's World Cup. She has said that her goal is to open the door for other women, especially in Africa, and to show that there should be no barriers for women referees in the men's game.
Quotes
[edit]- "I know I'm capable, I trust myself, and I trust what I'm doing."
- On being appointed to the Africa Cup of Nations. Meet Salima Mukansanga, the first woman set to referee an AFCON game ESPN (January 12, 2022)
- "...it's a first step for women..."
- After refereeing at the Africa Cup of Nations. Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women Sky Sports (January 28, 2022)
- "Here I am, and I deserve to be here."
- Ahead of the men's World Cup in Qatar. Exclusive Interview: World Cup Referee Salima Mukansanga Law 5 – The Referee (November 2022)
- "We are going to work together for the success of women."
- In an interview with BBC Sport Africa before the World Cup. Rwanda's Salima Mukansanga Makes History As First Black Woman Referee For FIFA World Cup 2022 Black Enterprise (December 3, 2022)
- She said "I am here because I have to be here" is the word she say when she was take an interview questions about how or what is the way to referee in the World cup.
- "Rwanda's Mukansanga makes her World Cup debut", The New Times (December 05, 2022)
- I'm looking for women who support women in refereeing and women around the world because there is something we can do,we are ready and we have the effort to do better.
- " Imbamutima za Mukansanga, umugore wa mbere uzasifura umukino", igihe.com (January 17, 2022)
- Impossible is nothing.
- " The first african female referee to officiate in FIFA World cup", Republic World (25 November 2022)
- We are here to build our careers and to lead with professionalism.
- , #IWD2022 (Marc 7, 2022)
- mukansanga|. Because today every thing is possible and every thin is true and has happened]" in world CUP 2022
- It is an honour and a privilege because it's never happened before,
- "World Cup 2022: Salima MUKANSANGAto open door's for female officials" Salima told BBC Sport Africa.
- When you have a lot on your shoulders, you need to carry it well so that others can see that the door is open and pass through.
- [https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/63519142 world cup 2022.(18 November 2022)
- I liked basketball, and wanted to take it very seriously, but access to basketball facilities and coaches was hard. That’s how I ended up in refereeing, which I have also never regretted. I love it
- The level of competition and the level of football are different, but all the players play football and the refereeing is the same. The laws of the game are the same. I participated in the Women’s World Cup in France in 2019, but now it’s different, there are two countries, Australia and New Zealand, and there are huge expectations, I’ve never been there, so I expect something new, to see better football. It will be a very big competition where we will see something new, something different, something better
- https://panorama.rw/fifa-womens-world-cup-2023-salima-mukansanga-ready-for-the-whistle/. PANORAMA (July 21 ,2023 )
- When she was a child she’d watch the referee, how they lead the game, make decisions, give cards, manage players — and she thought, “I wanted to be like that person on the field … I needed to learn more
- World Cup 2022: Salima Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female officials
BBC (18 November 2022)
- World Cup 2022: Salima Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female officials
- In a field dominated by men, you need to double your work — then have the passion, because without this passion you are going to get tired and then you leave it.”
- World Cup 2022: Salima Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female officials
BBC (18 November 2022)
- World Cup 2022: Salima Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female officials
- It’s a great pleasure for me to be representing UNICEF as an advocacy champion and will use my voice to speak up for children in Rwanda, and all over the world.
- “I’m not regretting anything. Here I am, and I deserve to be here. This is my time, and I have to seize this time to make it shine.”
- "We have to change our mindset. We have to show that we are capable, that we have potential, and that we can achieve whatever we want."
- "It means you are going to open the door for other women, especially in Africa. You are carrying a lot on your shoulders and you need to carry it well so that others can see that the door is open and pass through."
- "My message to young girls is that you shouldn’t let anyone tell you that you cannot make it. If you have a dream, go for it and work hard to achieve it."
- “Every team is coming prepared to fight, compete, and win.”
- Mukansanga, Dlamini and Laassiri highlight fierce competition ahead of WAFCON CAF Online.com(25 November 2024)
- “Dream big.”
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top bbc.com(21 July 2023)
- “This is my time, and I have to seize this time.”
- Exclusive Interview: World Cup Referee Salima Mukansanga LAW-5 ( 7 November 2022)
- “I have that responsibility within me, but I know how to deliver that responsibility.”
- “I have loved refereeing since childhood.”
- “It’s a great pleasure for me to be representing UNICEF as an advocacy champion.”
- UNICEF Rwanda welcomes Ms. Salima Mukansanga as a champion for children UNICEF (04 August 2022)
- “It’s an honour, it’s a privilege, it’s a pleasure.”
- Salima headline CAF Referees' AFCON Open Day CAF.ONLINE.COM (21 January 2022)
- “Now this is my time.”
- I was excited, scared before first AFCON game – Female ref mukasangaPunchng (February 3, 2022)
- “It was an exciting experience.”
- “It was up to me to fight until being appointed to the Premier League.”
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- “Without love and passion, tomorrow you're going to say, ‘no, I’m tired, I’m going to stop.’”
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "The moment I lost the opportunity with the under-17 basketball team, I started communicating with people about being a referee,"
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "You register with people in charge of sports in your sector, who then send it to the FA, who can then approve it.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "When I got that information, I was excited. I said, 'What I've been thinking about since childhood could now be a reality - so let me try'. Now, here I am."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "I was born a Muslim, so for my family to see a girl wearing a shirt and playing football, they were like: 'Oh my goodness, what is this?'
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "People didn't understand. Then people tended to let boys do what they wanted in sport, yet they doubted us girls.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "If you really want to reach your dream, forget what you've been told - fight, and then you can reach wherever you want to reach."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "People used to say, 'we'll give you a chance in the men's second division, but to go in the first division is tough as teams will not accept a woman referee'. Then people also talked about speed and fitness, saying we would not make it.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "This is what people thought - so it was up to me to fight until being appointed to the Premier League."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "Without love and passion, tomorrow you're going to say, 'no, I'm tired, I'm going to stop' because you're going to face many obstacles, such as the fitness requirements they want, as well as them wanting women to work doubly hard as men.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "But if you say it's in your heart, you're going to make it. It's about having ambition and a goal, and this is also something else I can say - dream big."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "I have people who have been to competitions of the highest level who are really motivating me. They're the people who keep pushing me [to think] that everything is possible.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "This gives me the strength and power to think about taking part in a big competition."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "Something else that keeps coming in my memory is the moment I decided to be a referee - despite people telling me, 'you're going to be wasting your time'. When I took the decision, I spent three days alone thinking about whether to be a nurse or a referee.
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- "I didn't make a mistake choosing to be a referee. The world is looking at me now - and the world will never forget my name."
- Women's World Cup 2023: Referee Salima Mukansanga's tips for the top BBC.COM (21 July 2023)
- “I was 15 years old and I was told ‘you're still young, maybe you'll get a chance in another two years.’”
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "After the game my colleagues were laughing, it got emotional then I cried in the locker room. I was really happy, very happy and excited because my dream came true," she says.
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "I tried to manage the pressure,"
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "I had my colleagues around me, the people who appointed me. They kept saying: 'forget the pressure, make it a perfect game and show the rest of the world that you are ready so that the women watching you can say, yes, she made it because she was confident of herself, she made decisions according to the laws of the game and she delivered what she had.'"
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "I am a lucky woman,"
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "I come from a country that gives equal chances to women to do what they want which benefits them according to their ability and commitment. That's something that pushed me to be more active and to work hard on my career."
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "Some countries still don't allow women and girls into football. They say it is not for girls. This is the moment to give them a chance and support them. The rest of the world can't understand that fact. This is the moment.
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "I am a woman, I am ready and I am capable because I worked hard for my career. I give all I have, I make a lot of sacrifices because I love it.
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "If you have passion, whatever obstacle you face, you will put it away. And then have people supporting you. I have a lot of people supporting me; my country, my people, my FA, my colleagues, they're supporting me.
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "All that support gives you strength to keep working and focus for the future. This is a moment for [women] to work, focus on your dream, hard work, sacrifice, you will get a chance. Once you get this chance, it is in your hands, focus and work for the future."
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "This is a big dream,"
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "Every male referee has that dream too because it's their biggest competition.But my dream is not focused on the men's World Cup. My dream is the Women's World Cup [in Australia and New Zealand]. That is my first focus.
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- "And whenever my dream comes true, I have to shine."
- No dream too big for AFCON's first woman referee Mukansanga amp.dw.com (02/04/2022 February 4, 2022)
- “It’s [an] opportunity to open the door and to show that all African [women] are capable.”
- A Rwandan is the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match qz.com ( July 20, 2022)
- “It’s a privilege. It’s a pleasure to me, to the rest of African women referees,”
- A Rwandan is the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match qz.com ( July 20, 2022)
- “We’re here not because we had favor to be here,”
- A Rwandan is the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match qz.com ( July 20, 2022)
- “[It’s] because we deserve to be here.”
- A Rwandan is the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match qz.com ( July 20, 2022)
- “So, back home, we have been working very hard, because a lot [of people] say, ‘Women, they can’t run at the pace of men, the speed and whatever,'” she adds. “Yes, we can’t be men, but we can do our best to be on the same level.”
- A Rwandan is the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match qz.com ( July 20, 2022)
- It’s just that I loved football so much that I wanted to have something to do with it.”
- Get to Know Rwanda’s Mukansanga Salima Rhadia, the First Female Referee to Officiate an AFCON Match www.bellanaija.com (February 1, 2022)
- “I kept the spirit to pursue my dream career because that was where my happiness was.”
- Get to Know Rwanda’s Mukansanga Salima Rhadia, the First Female Referee to Officiate an AFCON Match www.bellanaija.com (February 1, 2022)
- “I played football when I was in high school, but it was more for fun. I never played at a high level. I haven’t played as a professional player because, otherwise, I am a nurse. It’s just that I loved football so much that I wanted to have something to do with it,”
- Get to Know Rwanda’s Mukansanga Salima Rhadia, the First Female Referee to Officiate an AFCON Match www.bellanaija.com (February 1, 2022)
- “We started training as five girls out of more than 40 men, but no other girl continued. It’s a difficult thing because there were times when I was feeling discouraged. There were a lot of people who were discouraging me… saying that becoming a referee can’t help someone to make a living,”
- Get to Know Rwanda’s Mukansanga Salima Rhadia, the First Female Referee to Officiate an AFCON Match www.bellanaija.com (February 1, 2022)
- “I kept the spirit to pursue my dream career because that was where my happiness was. That’s what kept me going. They told me that it was a waste of time, but I knew that I would succeed,”
- Get to Know Rwanda’s Mukansanga Salima Rhadia, the First Female Referee to Officiate an AFCON Match www.bellanaija.com (February 1, 2022)
- “I want to thank my fellow referees for walking with me through this journey.”
- AFCON 21: A Triumphant Return Home for Referee Mukasanga KT PRESS (January 30, 2022)
- “I wouldn’t be here without them because we have worked together on the pitch for things to happen.”
- AFCON 21: A Triumphant Return Home for Referee Mukasanga KT PRESS (January 30, 2022)
- “I want to thank the leadership of our country which works to empower us everyday and gives us the platform to express ourselves. Our want to thank President Paul Kagame for his support and the First Lady for being exemplary and for always encouraging us to be confident and work hard, towards being what we want to be,”
- AFCON 21: A Triumphant Return Home for Referee Mukasanga KT PRESS (January 30, 2022)
- “I want to thank my fellow referees for walking with me through this journey. I wouldn’t be here without them because we have work together on the pitch for things to happen. I want to thank the media for always sharing information with the public. Without you the people wouldn’t know what is going,”
- AFCON 21: A Triumphant Return Home for Referee Mukasanga KT PRESS (January 30, 2022)
- “At first, I was a bit scared with the pressure and the attention but I was really happy…”
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "I'm really proud of myself, I'm really happy because it is a big achievement and honour. It's a privilege, it's a first step for women - that we have made as women,"
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "Once I got that chance and I got that opportunity I thought let me show them, let me open the door for the rest of the women, let me give all that I have.
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "For me it was like a final game, I did it like a final and I thought 'this final will open the door for me and for the rest of the women - and at the next AFCON there could be two women or three women, why not?'
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "Something that [also] made me very happy was that the players respected me, and respected my decisions. Those big players are professional. They understand. They know. They can understand the situation."
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "I was thinking 'why not me in a top competition, why not me in those big competitions that we have heard about, those tournaments that we used to see on TV'.
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "That was my dream. To see myself in those big competitions, and here I am, but I never dreamt I would get here to AFCON."
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "Everything about the game was exciting, every second of that game. it was vey important to me,"
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "There are things that we do because they are a passion, or something you like, or something that you feel is good, and you like to do it.
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "Kissing the ball - I was just happy. Happy and showing I was ready. The game would start with the kick off that ball and that ball helped get me motivated.
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "But with every performance there are areas to improve. I gave all I had and I am really proud of the performance that I made.
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
- "I'm really happy but for the next time there is a lot to improve, every referee has a lot to improve and you cannot be 100 per cent good. I'm proud of the performance, but I need to work hard to go far and improve because with every game we are learning. We learn from every game."
- Salima Mukansanga: History-making Africa Cup of Nations referee hopes tournament appearance can inspire women skysport.com (Friday 28 January 2022 )
