South African referee Abongile Tom will once again represent Mzansi at the world stage after being added to the list of officials at the 2023 FIFA Men’s U20 World Cup in May.
It has been a busy year for Tom as he was in Algeria in January for African Nations Championship (CHAN), which saw him officiate the opening match between Algeria and Libya.
The Cape Town-born referee didn’t stop there as he returned to the country and he was appointed to officiate the biggest match of the South African football calendar, the Soweto Derby on 25 February.
The 31-year-old was also again of the country during the African Cup Of Nations qualifiers as he was officiating the match between Democratic Republic Of Congo and Mauritania in Lubumbashi on 24 March.
He has been in and out of the country with CAF inter-club competitions also in progress.
He was appointed to take care of the CAF Confederation Cup Group C encounter between AS FAR Rabat of Morocco and Egyptian giants Future FC at the Al-Salam Stadium Cairo on 8 March.
He will be out of the country again this coming weekend, as he will be officiating a CAF Champions League encounter between the defending champions Wydad Athletic Club and JS Kabylie of Algeria.
Tom will be the only South African match official in U20 Men’s FIFA World that will begin in May, with SAFA Head of Referees Abdul Ebrahim saying he was proud of Tom and the way he represented South African refereeing.
“We are extremely proud of Abongile and his progress shows that we are developing world class match officials,” he said, as per SAFA.
“We are happy that we have another match official at the highest level so soon after Victor Gomez retired.
“We have set a benchmark as a department to ensure that we are represented at all major tournaments for both men and women.”
Meanwhile, FIFA have announced that Indonesia were stripped off the hosting rights of the U20 World Cup.
