After brilliantly taking charge of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 final Group A match between Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, Bouchra Karboubi made history by joining Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga who was the woman to officiate a TotalEnergies CAF AFCON match in Cameroon three years ago. Speaking to CAFOnline, the Moroccan international shares her unique experience of officiating at Africa’s biggest football event.
“Refereeing this match was an honor for me. During the last AFCON, I was the first woman to do VAR, I was in the final and in this AFCON, I am a central referee. It was a pride for me to represent African women and to represent refereeing in Africa.
“When I found out, the emotion was enormous. I was happy, I’m not saying there was no stress, but the stress stops as soon as we kick off. So, it was a pride for me to represent African women in general.
“The Guinea Bissau – Nigeria match was a serious challenge for me. We had to show that we are here, the first women’s referee trio. So, we had no room for error because we did our best to live up to the trust that CAF placed in us.
“It’s true that we got congratulated everywhere. We were very happy especially with the three women for being able to show that we can be there and that we can have the same competitiveness as the men. It wasn’t easy but we were able to show that we can be there and that we can do it.
“It is certain that the CAF refereeing division is really doing an excellent job to develop women’s refereeing in Africa. The fact that we are here, that we are officiating such matches shows the fruit of the work that they are doing.
“I will tell young girls who have a passion, who have a goal, to work, to never give up because each path has its own challenges, and we must not give up. We must continue and with the grace of God, we can get where we want to go.