AFCON 2021: controversial Mali-Tunisia referee believes God told him to end the match, to save his life
Janny Sikazwe believes God saved his life during the match, as he claims he was lucky not to go into coma and die.
Zambia referee, Janny Sikazwe thinks God told him to end the match to save his life. The referee said he was not responding during the match and he was lucky not to go into coma.
Sikazwe became popular after a controversial officiating in Mail v Tunisia game on January 12, in the group phase of the tournament when he ended the match before 90 minutes.
He ended the match initially in the 85th minute, but he resume the game after he was confronted. He then blew the final whistle again four minutes later. Tunisia lost the match to Mali 1-0.
That decision by the FIFA accredited referee was slammed and caused an uproar. Questions have been raised why he would do such a thing in the continental showpiece. The Zambian referee gave his answers to BBC sport Africa during an interview.
The highlight of his story is that he was lucky not to die during the match because the heat was unbearable for him. And he believes God might have whispered to him to end the match, to save his life. He said, it wold have been a different story if he had not end the match prematurely.
“I have seen people going for duties outside the country and come back in a casket. I was very close to coming back like that,”
“I was lucky I didn’t go into a coma. It would have been a very different story. The doctors told me my body was not cooling down. It would have been just a little time before going into a coma, and that would have been the end. I think God told me to end the match. He saved me.”
Sikazwe further added that the “weather was so hot, and the humidity was about 85%.”
“After the warm-up, I felt the [conditions] were something else. We were trying to drink water but you could not feel the water quenching you – nothing.
“But we [match officials] believe we are soldiers and we go and fight. Everything I was putting on was hot. Even the communication equipment, I wanted to throw it away. It was so hot.
“I started getting confused. I could not hear anybody. I reached the point where I could start hearing some noise and I thought someone was communicating with me and people were telling me ‘no you ended the match’. It was a very strange situation”.
The AFCON 2021 started on January 9, and it is now in the semi-final stage where Senegal will take on the Stallions on February 2, while Egypt will face Cameroon on February 3. The third place and final will take place on February 6.
