South African match officials Abongile Tom and Zakhele Siwela have been appointed to officiate Esperance vs TP Mazembe in the African Football League (AFL) on Thursday.
Despite some controversy regarding South African match officials in the domestic football of late, the two officials have been appointed to be in charge of high-profile AFL second leg clash at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi.
Tom, who recently officiated MTN8 final between Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, has been regarded as one of the top referees in Africa.
Meanwhile, Siwela who has also been out of the country most of his time as an assistant referee in most CAF matches both at international and club level, has been regarded as a top assistant on the continent.
The first leg between the two African giants ended 1-0 in favour of Mazembe, who couldn’t play their home fixture in DR Congo due to some issues and they had to play in Tanzania at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.
The second leg was initially set to take place on Wednesday, but was rescheduled to Thursday, along with the other quarter-final between Wydad Athletic Club and Enyimba.
The Esperance vs TS Mazembe match will take kick off at 5pm South African time, while the final quarter-final between Wydad and Enyimba will start at 20:00.
The winners of both quarter-final ties will meet each other in the semi-final to battle out the final opponents of Mamelodi Sundowns or Al Ahly.
