Lieutenant Abie Ceesay of the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) is among seventeen (17) selected sports officials to officiate the West African Football Union (WAFU) Championship currently underway in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Lieutenant Ceesay, who has been certified by FIFA in 2012, is joined by another female security service referee, Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Isatou Touray, FIFA certified and also the Officer Commanding (OC) of the Bakau Immigration post.
According to media reports, ASI Isatou Touray will perform in the WAFU competition as a central referee while Lieutenant Abie Ceesay will be an assistant. The two security officers started their assignments yesterday by officiating the Guinea versus Senegal encounter with ASI Touray as referee and assisted by Lieutenant Ceesay, Nafisatou Yekini Shitou from Benin and Edoh Kendedji from Togo.
Lieutenant Abie Ceesay, who is among nine (9) assistant referees in the Championship, was recruited into the GAF as a referee in 2011 as part of Intake 32 and underwent basic military training at the GAF Training School. However, before donning the military uniform to serve her country in colours she started her refereeing career with the flag in July 2008 until 2012 when she received the FIFA insignia as an International Assistant Referee.
It is reported that ASI Isatou Touray began her career in 2011 as an amateur at the local level where she perfected her skills before she became an eye-catching sensation in the football arena. She pursued the refereeing career and rose through the ranks officiating the female league and other female matches before bagging her FIFA accreditation badge in 2015.
