When the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released its list of referees for AFCON 2025, one name stood out, not because it was unfamiliar, but because it carried a quiet revolution behind it.
Shamirah Nabadda, Uganda’s fast-rising match official, is the only female center referee appointed for the continent’s biggest football showpiece.
And for anyone who has followed her story, this moment feels less like luck and more like destiny finally catching up.
From playing on dusty pitches to commanding the biggest stages.
Born in Mbarara in 1995, Nabadda didn’t set out to become a referee.
She was a footballer first, a left-back who played at school and later joined a top-flight women’s club, Western United.
The whistle found her almost by accident in 2015, when a family friend encouraged her to attend a refereeing course.
She went, half-curious. She left a different person.
In 2016 she earned her first refereeing badge and quickly began handling school tournaments and lower-tier league games.
That same year, she made history, at just 23, Nabadda became the youngest female centre referee in Uganda’s top division, KCCA vs Masavu, her first game in charge in 2016.
The confidence, the command, the calmness, it all seemed natural.
By 2018, the FIFA badge was hers. Suddenly, the girl who once chased opponents up and down the flank was now controlling games at the highest levels.
And the assignments kept stacking up, Africa Women Cup of Nations 2022 (Morocco), CAF Women’s Champions League 2023.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, Paris – Football Tournament, 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (Dominican Republic).
The 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN), where she even handled the men’s third-place playoff between Sudan and Senegal at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.
Domestic milestones including top-tier league matches, the Uganda Cup, and major school competitions.
Each tournament refined her craft. Each match strengthened her resolve.
Each whistle added another chapter to a story few expected, but many now admire.
In November 2025, recognition came loudly, Nabadda was crowned CAF Women Referee of the Year.
The accolade didn’t just validate her rise, it stamped her name among Africa’s most respected officials.
And just days later, she was appointed to AFCON 2025, the lone woman among 28 center referees.
Nabadda doesn’t walk into stadiums looking for attention. She walks in ready to work.
Ready to make the tough calls. Ready to prove that in the middle of a heated match, gender means nothing, but competence means everything.
Yet whether she intends it or not, she symbolizes something powerful. For girls in school tournaments.
For women eyeing roles in football leadership. For anyone who’s been told “you don’t belong here.”
Her presence at AFCON is more than a personal milestone. It’s a beacon.
Uganda’s football has long celebrated good goalkeepers and giant centre-backs. But in Nabadda, the country has something different, a tactician of order, a custodian of fairness, a referee whose rise charts new territory for Ugandan sport.
From dusty Mbarara grounds to the grandest stage in African football, Nabadda carries more than a whistle.
She carries a message. A promise. A challenge to the old order.
At AFCON 2025, all eyes will be on players fighting for glory.
But somewhere in the middle of the pitch stands another kind of pioneer, steady, fearless, and rewriting history with every decision she makes.
Shamirah Nabadda. The only woman with the whistle. A story still being written.
