South African top referee Victor Gomes might have blown his final whistle on the field of play, but off it, he is not done yet.
Victor Gomes, who blew his final whistle at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, has earned nomination for the world’s best referee award.
The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has nominated Victor Gomes in the Referee of the Year category.
The South African Victor Gomes and Algerian Mustapha Ghorbal are the only Africans on the 25-member shortlist.
FARPost has seen the shortlisted candidates.
VICTOR GOMES NOMINATED ALONGSIDE TOP REFEREES
The duo from African has been shortlisted alongside the finest in the business such as Szymon Marciniak of Poland.
Marciniak earned praises from pundits after his handled the 2022 World Cup final between France and eventual winners Argentina.
There are also other categories for club and national team Coach of the Year awards whose candidates include Morocco’s Atlas Lions mentor Walid Regragui.
The Moroccan coach has been nominated in both categories because he led Wydad to the 2022 CAF Champions League title.
Wydad beat then Pitso Mosimane-led Al Ahly from Egypt 2-0 in the final.
Two months later, the Moroccan football federation hired Regragui as the Atlas Lions coach to replace Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic.
Regragui will compete for the best national team accolade alongside World Cup winner Lionel Scaloni. Herve Renard of Saudi Arabia, Otto Addo (Ghana), Rigobert Song (Cameroon) and Senegal’s Aliou Cisse are also in the running.
MESSI, MBAPPE HEADLINE WORLD BEST PLAYER CATEGORY
The Player of the Year Award has the likes of Lionel Messi and France duo Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema.
Other nominees include Luca Modric (Croatia), Sadio Mane (Senegal), Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Robert Lewandowski (Poland).
Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo is conspicuously missing from the shortlist.
Moroccan Yassine Bounou will vie for the World Best Goalkeeper gong.
His team-mate Romain Saiss will challenge Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly for the Best Defender recognition.
IFFHS is a FIFA-recognised authority charged with archiving football statistics and history.
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