The images went around the world. On Wednesday January 12, 2022, the meeting between Tunisia and Mali at the opening of Group F of the CAN experienced a completely insane outcome. For no apparent reason, Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe blew the final whistle before added time even started.
A memory probably still present in the minds of the Tunisian and Malian players, who meet this Saturday January 3 in the round of 16 of CAN 2025 (8 p.m.). A few weeks after the controversy, the official, aged 42 at the time of the incident, spoke to L’Équipe, claiming to have been the victim of “heatstroke”. “It was very hot, with terrible humidity, over 80%. As soon as I warmed up, it was hard,” he said about the climate in Limbe, Cameroon. “Even though I took water, I still felt as thirsty as ever. And it got worse as the minutes passed.”
“I could have fit into a coffin”
As a reminder, the Zambian official stopped the game for the first time in the 85th minute, causing astonishment among the 22 players and general incomprehension throughout the stadium. After regaining his senses, he restarted the proceedings before stopping them definitively after exactly 89 minutes and 45 seconds, while the fourth referee was preparing to announce added time. Despite the indignation and anger of the Carthage Eagles staff, Mr. Sikazwe, escorted to leave the field, never restarted the match.
“I no longer heard my assistants who told me that they were trying to contact me, to help me because they saw that something was wrong. I have no memory of it, I was in my world,” he confided, speaking of a persistent state of confusion throughout the second half.
“In five minutes I could fall into a coma,” they told me at the hospital. I could have entered a coffin because what happened was very dangerous,” he said, still during his interview with L’Équipe.
A retreat to “give way to young people”
Since this incident, Janny Sikazwe has put away the whistle and is therefore not present on the Moroccan pitches this winter. Despite the controversy, the Zambian official was still selected by Fifa to referee during the 2022 World Cup. Designated to lead the match between Belgium and Canada in the group stage, his refereeing was still talked about, with the North American nation accusing him of having forgotten two penalties. A month later, in December 2022, the man in black announced the end of his career.
“I didn’t decide it a few days ago,” he said during a press conference in Zambia. “Some people said I was withdrawing because of pressure, but I don’t see what pressure they are talking about. I’m approaching 45 years old. We must leave room for young people,” declared Mr. Sikazwe, whose end of career was very eventful.
Before his strange discomfort during Tunisia-Mali, the Zambian official had already been involved in several controversies. During CAN 2019, Senegalese coach Aliou Cissé described his refereeing as “catastrophic” after a meeting between the Lions of Teranga and Algeria in the group stage. Above all, the controversial referee was suspended by CAF for “suspicion of corruption” at the end of an African Champions League match played in 2018, a sanction ultimately lifted for lack of convincing evidence.
There is no doubt that Tom Abonjel, the South African referee appointed to officiate during the round of 16 scheduled for this Saturday in Casablanca, will hope not to take as much attention as his Zambian counterpart at the time.
