With the Copper Queens already qualified to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand, Zambia has an additional representative in FIFA referee Diana Chikotesha who is among 55 assistant referees selected to officiate at the biggest football showpiece for women.
According to the list of appointed match officials announced by the FIFA Referees Committee Monday afternoon, Chikotesha has made the cut for the tournament that runs from 20 July – 20 August 2023.
Chikotesha has shone at the highest level in the last few years, with her first assignment in 2023 coming at the Algeria 2022 (to be played in 2023) African Nations Championship (CHAN).
According to FIFA, there will be a total of 33 referees, 55 assistant referees and 19 video match officials (VMOs) that will form FIFA Team One and have been chosen in close cooperation with the six confederations, based on the officials’ quality and the performances delivered at FIFA tournaments as well as at other international and domestic competitions in recent years.
For the first time in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, six female VMOs have also been selected.
“As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected on-field match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” said FIFA Referees Committee chairperson Pierluigi Collina.
“We all remember the very successful FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. The high standard of refereeing contributed significantly to that success. The aim for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 is to repeat that success and to convince again with excellent referees’ performances.”
In January and February, the selected match officials will participate in preparatory seminars (in Doha and Montevideo), reviewing and analysing video clips of real match situations and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from instructors.
Zambia will be making their World Cup debut and have been paired in Group C alongside Spain, Costa Rica and Japan and will kick-off their campaign against Japan at Waikato stadium in New Zealand on 22 July.
At the just ended FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, retired Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe was among the officials at the biggest soccer showpiece.
