Stephen Yiembe, a Kenyan referee, is one of the four match officials selected by FIFA from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) to officiate at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
As an assistant referee, Yiembe will make his Olympic football tournament debut. He will be joined by Ismail Mahmood Ali from Sudan, Ahmed Liban from Djibouti, and Shamira Nabadda from Uganda as the only match officials selected from East Africa.
This marks Yiembe’s second major tournament this year after his debut at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.
The Nakuru-born referee teamed up with compatriot Gilbert Cheruiyot as they officiated the Tunisia-Namibia game at AFCON 2023.
Yiembe had previously officiated the AFCON U23 final between Morocco and Egypt in July last year.
A total of 89 match officials will be present at the Olympics, including 21 centre referees, 42 assistant referees, 20 video match officials, and six support referees from 45 different countries.
The football tournament at the Olympics will be held from July 24 to August 10, with matches played in Bordeaux, Decines-Charpieu (near Lyon), Marseille, Nantes, Nice, and Saint-Etienne besides the host city Paris.
The tournament will feature 16 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams vying for gold in France.
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