Ugandan football’s female referee, Shamirah Nabadda, has been chosen to officiate at the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
This announcement was made on Tuesday by the FIFA Referees Committee, which confirmed a total of 89 match officials (21 referees, 42 assistant referees, 20 video match officials, and six support referees) from 45 countries for the Olympic Football Tournaments Paris 2024, which start on July 25th this year.
Nabadda, who is one of the four female match officials from Africa, joins Bouchra Karboubi, Jermoumi Fatiha (both from Morocco), and Diana Chikotesha from Zambia. She will serve as one of the six support referees.
Nabadda burst onto the spotlight in 2018 when she was given the mandate to referee the crucial game between title-chasing KCCA FC and relegation-threatened Masavu FC in Entebbe. She became the youngest-ever female center referee to officiate a top-flight match in Ugandan football at the age of 23.
Since then, Nabadda has been on an upward trajectory, officiating several top-flight league games before being selected to officiate at the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations and last year’s CAF Women’s Champions League.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism, which she attained from Bishop Stuart University.
Before becoming a referee, Nabadda tried pursuing a career in football as a player. This all started during her school days at Masaka S.S., where she was part of the school football team.
“I simply played football to enjoy myself. Nothing else. However, I was also very keen about the rules of the game, and this used to baffle my teammates who thought I had a lot of kajanja [curiosity] regarding football rules,” Nabadda was quoted during one of her interviews.
She later joined Western United in the top-flight women’s league (FWEL). However, in 2015, she was recommended by former FUFA delegate for Mbarara, who was also a close friend of their family, Abbas Sendyowa (RIP), to attend a refereeing course at the FUFA technical centre in Njeru.
While continuing to play for Western United, Nabadda started officiating at low-tier football tournaments.
By 2016, Nabadda had gained acceptance and found her footing in the sport. That is how she ended up officiating at the Copa Coca-Cola schools tournament plus in the top-flight women’s league, and as they say, the rest is history.