Referee Daniel Bennett from the South and assistant referee, Zakhele Siwela will be flying the South African flag high at the FIFA u.17 World Cup which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates from October 17 to November 8.
The South African duo will join 61 other FIFA-accredited match officials at the tournament.
Fifty two matches will be played in six venues accross the UAE, namely:
1. Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium
2. Al-Rashid Stadium
3. Emirates Club Stadium
4. Sheikh Khalifa International Stadium
5. Fujairah Club Stadium
6. Sharjah Stadium.
Bennett and Siwela will depart for Dubai on Wednesday October 9. The duo have an excellent record, officiating at FIFA and CAF matches with the most recent being the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup Group J qualifier between Senegal and Uganda. Sewela also officiated at the previous FIFA u.17 World Cup held in Mexico in 2011.
Both have been selected to be part of the match officials at the upcoming 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup tournament.
Other African match officials that will be in the UAE are Slim Jedidi, Bechir Hassani and Anouar Hmila (all from Tunisia); Badara Diatta, Djibril Camara and El Hadji Samba (all from Senegal) as well as Aen Marwa from Kenya.
The countries that have qualified for the tournament are Cote D’Ivoire, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.
