SAFA Suspends Referee Luxolo Badi

Referee Luxolo Badi has been suspended for making a series of eyebrow-raising calls in the recent MTN8 match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs.

Last Saturday, 23 September, Badi made calls that were deemed controversial, including not awarding Chiefs a penalty at one point in the match. Sundowns went on to win the game 2-1, while their opponents were eliminated from the competition.

Now, the 29-year-old official has been suspended by the South African Football Association (SAFA).

“The referee has been put into a rehabilitation programme, which he will serve for four weeks,” explained SAFA head of referees, Abdul Ebrahim, in an article published on Thursday, 28 September. “That now means that the technical committee will assign instructors to work with the referee over the next few weeks, both physical and technical aspects.

“Once the four weeks are completed, they will send my office a report just to highlight what it is that he has gone through, and when he will be ready to return. Then, a decision will be made if he returns straight to the [Premier Soccer League], or if he will restart again in the first division, just to give him one match to get fit again, and to obviously get back into the Premier League.”

Badi will begin his programme next Tuesday, 3 October.

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