Zambian Referee, Janny Sikazwe, has claimed he could have died of heatstroke if he had not blown for full time early in the controversial 2021 Africa Cup of Nations clash between Tunisia and Mali.
The 42-year-old was heavily trolled after he blew for full time five minutes early in the group stage fixture game on January 12, 2022 in Cameroon. He was thereafter forced to restart the match.
The game further sparked reactions when Sikazwe ended the match early for a second time, in the heat of Tunisia losing 1-0 to 10-man Mali. Furious coaching staff members had stormed onto the pitch to confront the referee.
The Zambian official, however, has now revealed God saved him from death, adding that God told him to end the match as a life saving move.
He said;
“I have seen people going for duties outside the country and come back in a casket,
I was very close to coming back like that.
I was lucky I didn’t go into a coma. It would have been a very different story.
The doctors told me my body was not cooling down. It would have been just a little time before [I would have gone] into a coma, and that would have been the end.
I think God told me to end the match. He saved me.”
