SAFA officials overlooked again as FIFA names referees for Qatar Under-17 World Cup

South African match officials have once again been left out of FIFA’s appointments for a major international tournament, with no SAFA referees or assistant referees selected for this year’s Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.

The tournament will be held in Doha from 19 November to 13 December, with four referees and eight assistant referees chosen from the Confederation of African Football (CAF). No official from South Africa is included in the list.

The omission comes after similar decisions involving several other FIFA competitions.

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026, scheduled for 17 October to 07 November, will also take place without SAFA match officials. CAF has nominated three referees and six assistants for that tournament, including two officials from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) region: Nancy Kasitu of Zambia and Queency Victoire of Mauritius.

South Africa is likewise not represented among the officials appointed for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, which is being staged from 05 to 27 September 2026.

That competition will feature two referees, four assistant referees and three Video Match Officials from the continent. The selected officials include representatives from Eswatini, Zambia and Namibia.

There were also no South African match officials at the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup Philippines 2025, FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2025, FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025 or the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

South Africa did have two officials involved at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but referee Abongile Tom and assistant referee Zakhele Siwela were appointed as fourth official and reserve assistant referee respectively in each of the five matches to which they were assigned.

The country’s only representative at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 was Jelly Chavani. He took charge of four matches before the tournament reached the last-32 stage.

The continuing absence of SAFA officials from FIFA tournaments has raised concerns about the level of confidence in South African match officials.

FIFA has already confirmed that the deadline for nominations to the Refereeing International Lists is 1 October.