Story by Lawrence Trusida, Sports Editor
Zimbabwe’s top referee, Brighton Chimene has been elevated to the ‘Elite B’ class on the FIFA panel after a stellar season on the local and regional front.
The Rusape-based match official was busy on the international front last year, overseeing the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier between Libya and Mauritius, 2025 AFCON Qualifier featuring Tanzania and Guinea as well as the CHAN Qualifier between Angola and Lesotho.
Apart from national team assignments, Chimene was also in charge of a CAF Champions League match pitting Arta Solar of Djibout and Dekadaha of Somalia.
Chimene also officiated at the COSAFA senior men tournament as well as the COSAFA U20 and U17 championships and the Four Nations tournament in Malawi.
The reigning Zimbabwean referee of the year has now been elevated to the Elite B class on the FIFA panel.
ZIFA Referees Manager Joshua Tigere said, “This is a significant rise, this means that he is one level below referees who officiate at the World Cup. He is now eligible to officiate at AFCON and CHAN tournaments effectively he can now take charge of any international match but for logistics sake, CAF just limits them to officiating in Africa.”
The four-time referee of the year’s elevation, however, comes a little bit late as the list of officials set to take charge at the upcoming CHAN tournament has already been released.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe retained 14 referees on the FIFA panel with four male centre referees including Chimene, Thabani Ruzario, Lawrence Zimondi and Owen Manenda who was not part of the panel last year.
Three Zimbabwean female referees Mercy Mayimbo, Grace Gimo and Thanks Nyahuye are on the FIFA panel.
Six male and four female referees will also be part of the FIFA panel for 2025.
