Shamirah Nabadda makes the grade to officiate at the U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup
Daniel NSUBUGA
Uganda’s Shamirah Nabadda has been chosen among the 18 center referees to take charge of the FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup that will be hosted by Poland in September this year.
The 30 year old is one of the continent’s fastest rising referees after also being previously selected to officiate at the CAF CHAN championships that were hosted by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania last year.
She also served at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Dominican Republic in 2024 after also becoming the second official from Uganda to officiate at the Olympics following in the footsteps of Ali Tomusange.
FIFA head of referees committee and the chief referees officer Pierluigi Collina confirmed that the officers will also be assessed in preparation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup that will be hosted by Brazil in 2027.
“We congratulate the match officials selected for these two important tournaments in the women’s football calendar,”
“As we build towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil, these competitions will provide an ideal opportunity to assess progress, both on the pitch and with the use of supporting technology. The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will use VAR to assist match officials, while the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will use Football Video Support.”
Collina said.
Nabadda will be joined by Namibia’s Twanyanyuka Antsino as the center referees from Africa.
Uganda failed to qualify for the tournament after failing beat Ghana at the final hurdle. Ghana will be joined by Benin, Tanzania and Nigeria as Africa’s representatives.
The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will be hosted in Poland in September and will feature 24 teams. The tournament will include 36 group-stage matches and 52 matches in total, played across four Host Cities. A total of 68 match officials have been appointed for the competition, comprising 18 referees, 36 assistant referees (all female) and 14 video match officials (ten female and four male)