Canada-Belgium referee at World Cup 2022 made notorious blunder in a game this year

A veteran referee who infamously whistled for the end of a game — five minutes before the match was actually over — has been named the referee for Canada’s World Cup match Wednesday against Belgium.

Janny Sikazwe, 43, of Zambia, caused a stir in January with an on-pitch blunder at the Africa Cup of Nations game between Mali and Tunisia. Sikazwe got confused and blew the final whistle a full five minutes before 90 minutes of play.

He quickly checked the time and ordered the game to restart again, only to end the controversial game 13 seconds before regulation — and without allowing any injury time.

The Tunisian side, trailing 1-0 and playing against 10 men after a Malian player was red-carded, stormed the pitch at Limbe stadium in Cameroon and confronted Sikazwe and his assistants over the gaffe.

A chaotic scene ensued. About 20 minutes later the tournament organizers ordered the match to be resumed. But Tunisia’s players didn’t come back and Mali was ultimately declared the winner.

Sikazwe blamed the weather conditions in Cameroon for why he got confused.

“Everything I was putting on was hot. Even the communication equipment, I wanted to throw it away. It was so hot,” he said, according to a BBC report.

“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.”

Sikazwe also told BBC that he was lucky he didn’t go into a coma from the heat.

“The doctors told me my body was not cooling down,” Sikazwe said. “It would have been just a little time before (I would have gone) into a coma, and that would have been the end.

“I think God told me to end the match. He saved me.”

Sikazwe has been a soccer referee for over 15 years, and officiated two group matches in the 2018 World Cup.

Sikazwe will be assisted by Jerson Dos Santos from Angola, Arsenio Marengula of Mozambique and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, FIFA announced Monday.

His Wednesday crew will also have the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) support team led by Juan Soto from Venezuela, Nicolas Gallo from Colombia, Mokrane Gourari from Algeria and Massimiliano Irrati from Italy.

Canada-Belgium game kicks off at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The forecast high is 28 C.

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