South African referee Victor Gomes has been nominated for the ‘World’s Best Men’s Referee 2022’.
Gomes, who turned 40 in December, represented South Africa at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, receiving laurels for his performances.
He was in charge of two group stage games, namely France’s 4-1 win over Australia and Spain’s 2-1 defeat against Japan.
Gomes was also selected as fourth official for Argentina’s quarter-final win on penalties against Netherlands during which Mateu Lahoz dished out a record-breaking 17 yellow cards.
After the tournament, Gomes announced his retirement from the beautiful game, telling Robert Marawa it’s time to give back to football “in a different capacity”.
However, Gomes, who also in charge of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Senegal and Egypt earlier in the year, has now received a huge honor as he was listed among the 25 best referees in 2022 by the International Federation of Football Statistics and History (IFFHS).
The South African is one of two African nominees on the shortlist:
Clément Turpin (France)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Daniele Orsato (Italy)
István Kovács (Romania)
Michael Oliver (England)
Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
Anthony Taylor (England)
Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands)
Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
Facundo Tello (Argentina)
Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
Patricio Loustau (Argentina)
Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)
Esteban Ostojich (Uruguay)
Iván Barton (El Salvador)
Ismail Elfath (United States)
César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
Victor Gomes (South Africa)
Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
Chris Beath (Australia)
Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates)
Last year, German referee Felix Brych won the award and was named ‘World’s Best Men’s Referee 2021’.
