09 Jan 2022

Botswana referee, Joshua Bondo, is part of match officials at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which kicked off in Cameroon yesterday.

In an interview, Botswana Football Association’s (BFA) referees manager, Jonti Rasetsoga, said Bondo’s selection would not benefit him alone but the whole country.

He said being part of AFCON referees would serve as motivating factor to youngsters with interest in refereeing.

Bondo has also officiated in a number of international matches over the years such as COSAFA Cup, CAF Confederation cup, Olympics qualifiers 2016-Africa and CAF Champions league.

This, he said, was  a plus factor to the refereeing community, noting that Bondo’s instructors would feel sense of achievement and work hard to produce more referees of international standard.

“Referees would also be motivated by Bondo’s achievement and they would work tirelessly to reach his level,” he added.

Phodiso also highlighted that this strategically placed Botswana on the international map thereby motivating the need for FIFA and CAF to invest in football infrastructure and human resource.

Upon his return from AFCON, he said, Bondo would share what he learnt to help grow Botswana football, adding that there were new referees’ concepts that were usually introduced at international events and having a representative there would mean being one of the first countries to benefit from such developments.

He said this was also an achievement to BFA, since it showed that it was doing a great job, having produced international standard referee.

“Not all countries are represented there in terms of officials and this is a reflection that BFA was in the right direction and the association will be motivated to continue working hard to grow the beautiful game,” he added.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) has selected 63 match officials consisting of 24 referees, 31 assistant referees and eight video assistant referees from 36 countries.  ENDS