Salima Mukansanga has revealed she did not see the opportunity to officiate at a men’s FIFA World Cup coming.

The Rwandan-born referee will make history in the next few days as the first African woman to officiate at the finals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, exactly 10 months after achieving a similar feat at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Mukansanga, alongside Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita and Frenchwoman, Stephanie Frappart were appointed as the first-time female centre referees to officiate at a men’s World Cup.

The 34-year-old, who broke a glass ceiling officiating the AFCON group stage match between Zimbabwe and Guinea on 18th January 2022, shared her feeling on being selected among the first-time women officiating at the World Cup in 92 years. “It was very exciting, and this is a privilege for me. I had never dreamed to go to the men’s World Cup”, she said.

“The first time I was nominated to go to a World Cup, was in France for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, so my next target was more at the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in 2023.

“Being appointed to the Men’s World Cup is something new, another opportunity we get. It means FIFA recognizes that women are working hard; that we are providing quality refereeing and that we can deliver and reach higher, up to the top of the men’s game.”
Mukansanga

Rough early years

Starting as early as 15, Mukansanga reflected on her rough early years, while also sharing her incredible rise through the ranks, having been a listed international referee for FIFA since 2012.

“I have loved refereeing since childhood, I was inspired when I used to go to games in my hometown and I would look on the field watching the players but also the referees.

“Seeing them in action was a big inspiration for me. So being a referee is really something I wanted to do, and it has been a motivation and driver within me. I just love it.

“In the beginning, I used to officiate in the local leagues for men and second division women. It was not professional, just local in our FA.

“Soon after that, I developed my referee abilities and started refereeing in a national league second division, second division women and then up to the first division men.”
Mukansanga

On coping with reactions while officiating at men’s domestic games as a woman, she said: “At a time it was new because we didn’t see women referees. It is a field dominated by men. People did not accept what we were doing. They would reluctantly say ‘She’s doing fine’”.

“But within me, I had a big dream to reach far, to be a professional referee, but people did not accept me. However, day by day, they started to accept it more, because of the decisions I took. They found that I was making fair 2/5 decisions and so they tried to accept.

“After more time, they also started to encourage young girls to get involved in those fields dominated by men. So, it was a good time for me as I knew many of the other female referees and we could present a more powerful appearance together.”
Mukansanga

With just hours to the World Cup kick-off, she opened up about her preparations and readiness for the new challenge in Qatar.

“I’m just preparing for the World Cup tournament as a whole, not particular games. So, I have to prepare myself physically, mentally and theoretically to be ready. This is all based on the training we get which includes courses and seminars.

“The expectation is always more, and so we need to give more. We have a special diet, we are almost like elite athletes ourselves! Everything is set out for every referee going to the World Cup.”
Mukansanga

Mukansanga noted that there’s no discrimination because “we have the same training – everything is the same and everything is equal.”

The 2022 FIFA World Cup will kick off in a few hour’s time as host, Qatar, takes on Ecuador in the opening match.