Local ref set for global award
Malawi most decorated referee Bernadette Kwimbira-Mzika is among the 2021 World Best Female Referee Award nominees.
The Fifa assistant referee is among 15 referees that International Federation for Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has shortlisted for the award.
IFFHS said in a statement that the winner will be announced at the end of the month.
The statement reads in part: “At the end of the month of November, the IFFHS will announce the awards 2021 winners in both men’s and women’s categories.”
No Malawian has made the grade in the most outstanding male referees category.
This means Kwimbira-Mzika is the first Malawian to be nominated for the award which recognises the work of referees in football.
She is also the only other African referee nominated for the award after Rwandan Salima Mukansanga.
Other top referees on the list are Anastasia Pustovoitova (Russia), Stephanie Frappart (France), Esther Staubli (Switzerland), Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine), Shona Shukrula (The Netherlands), Edina Alves Batista (Brazil), Mariana de Almeida (Argentina), Valeria Palma (Chile), Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico), Kathryn Nesbitt (USA), Melissa Borges (Honduras), Nazemideylami Gelareh (Iran), Kate Jacewicz (Australia) and Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan).
Kwimbira-Mzika, who is currently in Egypt where she is officiating at the inaugural TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League, got the nomination following her impressive track record after officiating at the Japan Olympic Games this year.
She was also part of the first-ever all-women refereeing team to officiate a match at a CAF Senior Men’s final tournament when she, alongside Nigeria’s Mimisen Lyorhe and Ethiopian referee Ldya Tafesse Adebele, took charge of a 2020 Championship of African Nations (Chan) Group D match between Namibia and Tanzania earlier this year.
Kwimbira-Mzika, who has officiated at two Fifa Women’s World Cups and five Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals, is also expected to officiate at the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup finals to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
However, she faces stiff competition for the award from Frappart, who won the award back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.
But Kwimbira-Mzika said in an interview from Egypt that she does not mind the stiff competition, saying the nomination in itself is a big honour.
She said: “Just becoming the first Malawian nominated for the award is a big achievement for me. So, whether I win or not, I thank God for this recognition.”
The IFFHS, which was founded in 1984, in Leipzig, Germany, but registered in Zurich, Switzerland, is the official custodian of football history and statistics.
