”I Nearly Died” – Sikazwe Recounts AFCON 2021 Experience

While others mimicked at the time, Janny Sikazwe has admitted in his presser after retirement that he was going through a life-threatening experience in the game pitting Tunisia against Mali.

Having made his last official appearance in Qatar, the 43-year-old left a long lasting legacy on the continent, of which, sadly, the controversial 2021 Africa Cup of Nations match between Tunisia and Mali stands out.

Sikazwe twice whistled for the end of the match. In the 85th minute, the he sent all the players back to the locker room before reversing his decision to relaunch the game after a few minutes of general incomprehension.

Then, in the 90th minute, with ten seconds left in regular time, Janny Sikazwe decided to stop the game for good. After 30 minutes of consultation, the officials agreed to restart the match for three minutes of additional time but with the fourth assistant referee taking over duties.

However, the game did not resume because Tunisia did not return to the field, forcing the fourth official to stop the game definitively.

After medical examination, Sikazwe was diagnosed of “a heat stroke” which comes with a memory loss.

“I nearly died when I ended the Match prematurely due to heat stroke at the 2021 AFCON. It was the worst match of my career.” Stated the Kapiri Mposhi native.

Sikazwe participated in six AFCONs, taking part in the final between Egypt and Cameroon in 2017. Considered an experienced referee, the Zambian also faced corruption charges in 2018 after a refereeing error for which he was provisionally suspended before being cleared at the beginning of 2019.

Appointed center referee in the Belgium-Canada World Cup game, which happened to be his last, Sikazwe still came under a lot of stick for some of his decisions.

Despite his short-comings, Africa will remember this ‘whistle-man’ who served for more than a decade.