Rwanda’s Mukansanga To Officiate At 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Rwanda’s most popular referee Salma Mukansanga is scheduled to officiate at the forthcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Mukansanga brings a wealth of knowledge from past events she has presided over to the pitch. She officiates an AFCON game as the first female referee ever.

She has also served as a referee at events including the Olympics, AFCON, WAFCON, and the CAF Women’s Champions League.

From July 20 to August 20, Australia and New Zealand will co-host the event.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will also be the first to take place under FIFA’s revamped commercial structure, which was announced in 2021 and for the first time “unbundled” the women’s game from the men’s, allowing brands to enter dedicated partnerships exclusively for its women’s football programmes.

Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has threatened not to display this year’s Women’s World Cup in five European nations, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, due to a financial dispute.

He called the current proposals from broadcasters for the rights “disappointing” and a “slap in the face” to all outstanding players and “women worldwide.”

Infantino went on to say that it was the “moral and legal obligation” of football’s international governing body to “not undersell” the competition.

He warned that if the proposals “continue to be unjust [to women and women’s football], we will be forced to cancel the FIFA Women’s World Cup broadcast into the ‘Big 5’ European countries.”

He stated that broadcasters offered FIFA between $1 million and $10 million for the rights, compared to $100 million to $200 million for the men’s World Cup.