Luanda – The Angolans Jerson Emiliano dos Santos and Ivanildo Lopes have been included in the list of 32 assistant referees selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to take part in the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations to be held from January 13 to February 11 in Côte d'Ivoire.
Egypt (2 male and 1 female) and Angola, Algeria, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon (1 male and 1 female) and Kenya are the countries that have provided the most referees with two each, followed by Mozambique, Benin, Congo, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Togo, São Tomé and Principe, Burkina Faso and Djibouti all with one.
Angola did not provide any referee from the total of 26 appointed by the CAF refereeing commission, which includes the presence of the only woman, the Moroccan Karboubi Bouchra.
At least 12 video referees have been selected for the competition, including three women, who will help resolve some dubious cases.
Among the Angolan referees who have already taken part in the final stages of the continent's biggest football competition is Hélder Martins de Carvalho, who has already retired.
During his career, Hélder Martins was the referee on three Africa Cup of Nations in Angola (2010), Egypt (2019) and Cameroon (2021).
He was also the referee of the U-17 CAN final between Burkina Faso and Rwanda (2-1) at the Amahoro Stadium in the city of Kigali in 2011.
Angola national team are in group D of the competition alongside Algeria, their opening opponents, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
FN/AMP
