The South African flag will again be only held high by a match official at the next tournament that roars to life in Algeria after two weeks.
The seventh edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN finals which is a tournament for players based in their home countries) will be played from January 13-February 4 in Algeria.
READ | Gomes' colourful refereeing career relived
Just like the most recent edition of the AFCON finals, South Africa failed to qualify for this tournament after being hammered 6-1 by Angola in the second round of qualifiers.
Bafana Bafana also failed to reach the higher level of the recent World Cup finals in Qatar.
In both the AFCON finals and the World Cup it was centre referee Victor Gomes and assistant Zakhele Siwela who held the flag high while Bafana Bafana were idling at home.
Gomes handled the final between Senegal and Egypt in Cameroon before running the rule in the middle in two World Cup group stages matches.
For the CHAN tournament in Algeria, Abongile Tom will carry the task of representing the nation.
Tom has already done AFCON qualifiers, COSAFA Cup matches, CAF Champions League, and Confederation Cup matches through doing duty on the domestic scene in the DStv Premiership and Motsepe Foundation Championship.
His track record shows that he first served in the first division in 2015 before moving up two years later and has been a CAF referee since last year.
At the CHAN finals, he is amongst 19 referees named for the tournament which will have 21 assistants plus 12 VAR officials at the 18-team competition.
CAF has named three female match officials for the tournament in keeping up with their policy of promoting women's refereeing.
"For this competition, we have combined experience with youth - we have a number of upcoming and promising referees. CHAN is a global competition and a great platform for our match officials.
"As we start a new World Cup cycle, this gives us an opportunity to build. We have AFCON - both men and women in 2024 - and a number of competitions under this cycle. I'm particularly pleased to see more women joining the bigger group," says CAF Head of Refereeing Desire Noumandiez Doue on the CAF website.
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