{"id":27116,"date":"2022-10-11T18:22:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T18:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee"},"modified":"2022-10-11T18:52:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T18:52:22","slug":"meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","title":{"rendered":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle as a centre referee while officiating matches of veteran teams since 2021.<\/p>\n

At just 14, the refereeing prodigy is enjoying an incredible rise. He is now handling big games despite his young age.<\/p>\n

Niyomufasha is a Senior Three student at Groupe Scolaire Butare Catholique. While most youngsters at his school dream of becoming world class football players, he is following a different dream. He wants to referee at big tournaments like the World Cup which those other future world-class players actually dream of playing in.<\/p>\n

Times Sport spotted Niyomufasha at Huye Stadium watching AS Kigali\u2019s CAF Confederation Cup second round goalless draw against Libyan side Al Nasr from the stands. He was at the game not just to support the Rwandan side. He was there to learn and gain experience from big match officials officiating the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to always learn from others if you want to improve. That\u2019s why I am here to witness how match officials perform at big occasions like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Born in Mbazi Sector, Huye District, the Senior Three student started officiating at matches in 2021, aged 13. He was, at the time, refereeing games of veteran teams in Huye. Poverty nearly ruined his dream. He almost quit due to lack of equipment but the veterans mobilized funds to buy the equipment for him.His refereeing skills impressed football enthusiasts to the extent that Huye-based top flight side Mukura VS requested his services to officiate at some of the club\u2019s friendly games.<\/p>\n

Niyomufasha chose refereeing after being inspired by Rwandan female football referee Salima Mukansanga, one of the four women referees shortlisted by World Football governing body (FIFA) to officiate at the Qatar World Cup 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked at the decisions that Mukansanga has been taking on the pitch and how she has been performing during international matches, I decided to walk in her footsteps so I could become an international referee like her. My dream is to, one day, officiate at the World Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The youngster\u2019s biggest achievements include assignments taken over while officiating two of Mukura\u2019s recent friendlies with Amagaju FC and Huye FC, respectively. He also officiated the youth teams\u2019 tournament recently organized in Huye by the local football governing body (Ferwafa).<\/p>\n

His incredible decision-making on the pitch when booking players, giving or ruling out penalties, among other decisions, is increasingly impressing football enthusiasts in Huye. That has been a great source of motivation for the youngster who is determined to improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes me proud now is hearing people admiring the decisions that I take on the pitch in every game that I handle. It is a big motivation that I can\u2019t take for granted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While his future looks promising to those closely following his rise, Niyomufasha admits he needs more technical training so he can become a great referee.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I want from Ferwafa is support in terms of capacity building. I need to learn a lot from this profession so that I can build my career from the very young age,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle as a centre referee while officiating matches of veteran teams since 2021. At just 14, the refereeing prodigy is enjoying an incredible rise. He is now handling big games despite his young age. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-27116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\",\"name\":\"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee - Rwanda","description":"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee","og_description":"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee","datePublished":"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee"},"wordCount":551,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Rwanda","Rwanda"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee","name":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-11T18:22:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-11T18:52:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Soccer enthusiasts who play from the Kamena Stadium know Emmanuel Niyomufasha, the kid who has been blowing the whistle ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_12-6345bb522a25d.jpg","width":1200,"height":700,"caption":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/meet-14-year-old-niyomufasha-a-fast-rising-football-referee#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet 14-year-old Niyomufasha, a fast-rising football referee"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}