Rabat – Nicknamed the child of Sous (a region in mid-southern Morocco), Jiyed Redouane was born and raised in Agadir. He learned about discipline and physical endurance from a very young age.
These traits paved the way for him to initiate his 26-year-old career. and become the most requested Moroccan international referee. He went on to whistle in decisive games and high-risk national matches such as the 2018 Moroccan Throne Cup.
Read also: Tunisian TV Channel Claims CAF-Morocco Plotted Tunisia’s CAN 2019 Elimination
Professional Career
At the age of 14, Jiyed started his journey to become the respected Moroccan international referee he is today. He joined the regional Sous League Arbitration School at the beginning of the 1993-1994 season, where he had his introduction to his future career.
Having received the proper training, Jiyed was admitted to the rank of league referees during the 1994-1995 season. Remarkably, he then managed to become an inter-league referee in the 1998-1999 season.
In 2002, at the age of 23, Jiyed officially became a federal referee, successfully officiating many games in Morocco.
International Career
At the age of 30, Jiyed was promoted to international referee. He quickly became respected and venerated within the sport’s community, through his firm and judicious decisions during several games.
At that time, Jiyed was the youngest international referee Morocco had ever trained.
Since then, he has had the opportunity to arbitrate in many championships and matches under the CAF, and to even participate in football games outside Morocco.
Today, Jiyed has already refereed 96 matches; a number which highlights the football community’s trust in his managerial skills.
Besides his participation in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), Jiyed arbitrated in the 2017 African Nations Championship (CHAN), the 2015 U20 and U23 CAN and in 14 additional high-risk games during the African Champions League.
In the course of his career, Jiyed has won honors and titles which have made him a hero in his home town. Recently, he was awarded the title of best Moroccan referee of the year 2018-2019 by the Moroccan Union of professional footballers.
Jiyed’s career path honors the memory of the respected referee Said Belqola, a Moroccan icon who had a significant impact on the history of African and international arbitration.
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2019 Africa Cup of Nations
During the 2019 CAN, Jiyed refereed the Mali-Angola match and the Nigeria-South Africa quarter-final, alongside Lahcen Azgaou and Mustapha Akarkad.
The trio of Moroccan referees gave a great performance at the CAN officiating the games in Egypt.
Besides his laudable CAN performances, Jiyed’s participation in the Tunisia-Senegal semi-final gave rise to negative speculation from Tunisian media outlets.
On July 14, 2019, Jiyed became the first Moroccan referee to join a video referee team during the Tunisia-Senegal game and award a goal from the video assistant referee (VAR) view.
After Tunisia’s loss to Senegal, Tunisian media blamed Jiyed and the VAR referee for Tunisia’s elimination from the 2019 CAN.
Tunisian sports commentators strongly criticized CAF for putting a Moroccan referee in the VAR room during the semi-final match, suggesting that it was a Moroccan-CAF plot against the Tunisian national team.
In a Tunisian televised program called “CAN diary,” the commentators stirred rumors that the decision to prevent Tunisia from taking a penalty was an intentional move against the Tunisian football team.
Tunisia expressed anger after the Ethiopian referee Bamlak Tessema Weysa decided to use VAR to double check his decision to award a penalty to Tunisia.
After checking the VAR, the Ethiopian referee waved his arms to announce no penalty for the Tunisian team.
After the decision was announced, commentators began to speculate that it was a hostile move from CAF and Morocco.
“It should be noted that the referees of the VAR did not call the referee Bamlak to check the first, or the second penalty whistled respectively for Tunisia and for the opposing team,” said the Tunisian news outlet.
Jiyed has not yet commented on the allegations from the Tunisian news outlet.
