SWAG referee of the year on an international assignment

Newly crowned Sports Writers' Association's (SWAG) Referee of the Year, Joseph Willington, has been named by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as the middle man in an Africa under-17 qualifier between Mali and Gambia on Sunday, January 12.

Fellow countrymen, Nicolas Djumoh and Haruna Ayuba would assist him on the lines in the Malian capital of Bamako.

The commissioner for the qualifier towards Swaziland 2003 is Koffe Hasse from La Cote D'Ivoire. The match is the first international assignment for Willington in the year, who last Saturday, broke a five-year dominance by compatriot Alex Quarty as the SWAG Referee of the Year.

He told the GNA Sports that there was not under intense pressure since this was not his first CAF assignment. The referee of the year however expressed optimism of a good show and to possibly assert himself as one of the finest on the local scene. He was grateful to SWAG for the award and expressed the hope that it would spur him on to perform even better in the year.