Kenyan football officials continue to get recognition after world governing body Fifa selected top referees Gilbert Cheruiyot and Mary Njoroge to officiate the 2020 Fifa Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.
"It’s a good motivation for all our match officials especially the upcoming and that the work we are doing as a technical department is appreciated because we are nowadays represented in every major football event," said Football Kenya Federation referee official Sylvester Kirwa.
Njoroge and Cheruiyot are among the 99 match officials, who include 25 referees, 50 assistant referees, 20 video match officials, and four support referees selected from 51 countries.
The duo have officiated over numerous Fifa and Caf matches. Njoroge was earlier this year appointed to officiate the Caf Confederation Cup group stage match pitting Cameroon’s Coton Sport against Zambia’s NAPSA stars.
Her counterpart, Cheruiyot had also in January, put the Kenyan flag on the map when he officiated the Africa Nations Championships quarterfinal pitting Mali against Congo alongside Fifa referee Peter Waweru, who was the centre referee.
The women’s tournament is set to kick off on July 21, with the men’s event commencing a day later.
