Malawian FIFA Assistant Referee Bernadetta Kwimbira-Nzika has been selected to officiate at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France from 7th June to 7th July 2019.
This is the second time she is going to grace the Women’s Football biggest stage after running the line at the 2015 World Cup in Canada.
Kwimbira is among the seven African Assistant Referees selected for this year’s tournament.
Reacting to the news, the Zomba based ref said she is very delighted for making it France .
“I thank God for making this happen again , it is not easy to return to a World Cup tournament. The project started with 18 African candidates and to make it to the final 7, I glorify God.
“For me to get a ticket to France this year, I have worked hard for the past four years since the 2015 World Cup in Canada and I will do my best to impress ”, said Kwimbira.
During her last outing she went as far as handling the second biggest match of the tournament, the Match for the third place and she can only hope to get the final itself this time around.
Kwimbira is one of the most travelled and exposed local referees as she also officiated at the 2016 Olympics, five Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, 2018 FIFA Under 20 World Cup, Youth Olympic games and several other international games.
In a related development, four Malawian FIFA Referees are expected to officiate the 2020 African Nations Championship qualifier between Botswana and Seychelles this Saturday.
The four are Referee Ishmael Chizinga, 1st Assistant Referee Innocent Kaundula, 2nd Assistant Referee Edward Kambatuwa and 4th Official Alfred Mbuto Chilinda.
