21 May 2022 – The South African Football Association (SAFA) and Showmax have congratulated Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela after the two match officials were appointed to officiate at the Fifa World Cup in Qatar later this year.
The achievement of the two officials, who also officiated in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in the beginning of the year, further cements the success of the partnership between SAFA and Showmax. Gomes blew the whistle in the AFCON final between Senegal and Egypt while Siwela served as one of his Assistants.
SAFA’s Head of Referees, Abdul Ebrahim, said the Association’s partnership with sponsors Showmax had seen massive growth within the referees’ structures.
‘’Showmax has afforded us the opportunity to host several referees’ programmes around the country’s 9 Provinces. Elite referees used to only come from big urban areas but now all Provinces are represented and some of the best officials now come from far flung areas,’’ said Ebrahim.
‘’It is now the responsibility of each Province to ensure ongoing development in their respective Regions right down to the LFAs.’’
Showmax – MultiChoice Group’s African-focused online streaming service – bundles the best of African and international entertainment with live sport from SuperSport on Showmax Pro.
The partnership between Showmax and SAFA began in 2020 and supports the more than 40 000 referees officiating in all matches played under the auspices of the Association. It also provides assistance to both the male and female divisions of the sport.
“We’re thrilled that our Showmax partnership with South African football has achieved our aim of enabling the best local talent to take part on the global football stage. We’ll be proudly watching all our Showmax SAFA Referees in Qatar,” says Yolisa Phahle, CEO for Connected Video at MultiChoice Group.
Since the partnership with Showmax commenced, SAFA has held a number of workshops despite the past two seasons having been hampered by the covid-19 pandemic.
According to Ebrahim, these include the national women and men development workshops in March and April this year. This was followed by the national men and women instructors’ workshops held in May and June this year.
With the covid-19 restrictions having eased up, Ebrahim said the programmes will commence full throttle going forward.