Papa Gassama to officiate at 2014 FIFA World Cup

Papa Gassama to officiate at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Gambian referee Bakary Papa Gassama is among three referees from Africa selected to officiate at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Having been beaten by Algerian Haimoudi Djamel for the Referee of the Year at the 2013 CAF Awards in Lagos, Nigeria, the Gambian has been chosen by FIFA to officiate at this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil.

Papa Gassama made history by becoming the first Gambian to be shortlisted for the top prize for refereeing in Africa and has made yet another name for himself, and the country by becoming the first Gambian to be appointed to officiate at a senior World Cup final tournament.

The 34-year-old’s dream was to officiate at the 20th FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and that dream has certainly come true as he will join 25 other referees from around the world, including England’s Howard Webb, who took charge of the 2010 final match between Spain and the Netherlands.

In 2013, Papa Gassama was appointed to officiate in most of the high-profile football events in Africa, including the Africa Cup of Nations, the CAF Super Cup, the Africa Zone World Cup qualifiers and the CAF Champions League final.

He also took charge of big matches in World football, including the FIFA Under-20 Finals in Turkey and the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, where he became the first man to use the so-called ‘vanishing spray’ to mark where the ball and wall should be positioned for free kicks.

Each referee was chosen with his regular team of two assistants, which means that Papa will travel to Brazil flanked by Cameroonian Evarist Menkouande and Felicien Kabanda from Rwanda.

FIFA has selected a further eight referees and eight assistants to go to Brazil as reserves. The world body explained that the referees have been chosen based especially on their personality and their quality in football understanding by being able to read the game and the teams’ tactical approaches toward each game.

Europe provides nine of the 25 officiating teams, South America has five, Asia four, Africa and the CONCACAF region three each and Oceania one. The youngest referee chosen is 33-year-old Wilmar Alexander Roldán Pérez of Colombia, and the oldest is 43-year-old Noumandiez Doué of Ivory Coast, whose selection is a surprise given that he failed to make the three-man shortlist for CAF’s Referee of the Year Award. The winner, Algeria’s Haimoudi Djamel, completes the African trio.

“FIFA has implemented a comprehensive program to ensure that the referees for its flagship competition are in peak condition,” the governing body said in a statement.

Between now and the World Cup, the selected group of match officials will participate in three seminars: February, March/April, the last of which will be ten days before the kick-off.

The officials will be followed and monitored regularly during this period, and FIFA is ready to give them all the support they need so that they can prepare for the World Cup in the best possible manner.

A referee and his assistants can still be dropped from duty if they fail a fitness test before the June 12 kickoff, a fact that’s not lost on the Gambia’s top ‘knight of the whistle’.