Menzi Magubane
South Africa’s top referee Victor Gomes has been confirmed as one of the senior referees who will officiate at the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
Zakhele Siwela Gomes will accompany him as an assistant referee.
Gomes will be amongst 36 referees who were appointed by the football governing body for the November tournament.
Daniel Bennett was the closest a South African referee ever came to officiating in a World Cup. His experience took him as far as officiating in the Club World Cup and a number of World Cup qualifiers before he retired in 2019.
Gomes has never officiated in the Club World Cup but going to Qatar would be his biggest achievement in his professional career that started in 2008.
Gomes’ excellent performance at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final in Cameroon early this year must have paved the way for him.
Misbehaving players in Qatar must be wary of the Johannesburg-born referee. He takes no prisoners and Liverpool star forward Mo Salah can attest to that.
In the Afcon final between Egypt and Senegal in February, Gomes had a heated argument with Salah and the referee stamped his authority and won the fight.
The 2021 Afcon edition was not his first and it’s certainly not his last. His first edition was in 2019 (in Egypt) but officiating the final was his first in February.
Other African officials selected for the world cup duty are Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria), Redouane Jiyed (Morocco), Tesssema Balmak (Ethiopia), Jean Jacques Ndala (RD Congo) and two controversial referees Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) and Maguette N’diaye (Senegal).
Image source: @TheSouthAfrican
