Ghana referee Charles Bulu loses consciousness while officiating Cote d’Ivoire v Ethiopia AFCON qualifier

Top Ghanaian referee, Charles Bulu lost consciousness and collapsed on Tuesday afternoon while officiating the clash between Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia.

The Elephants today locked horns with their counterpart from the East African country in the final Group K match of the qualifiers to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament scheduled to be hosted in Cameroon next January.

Handling the match as the centre referee, all went well in the first half but the last 10 minutes had to be abandoned following a moment of scare.

Referee Charles Bulu lost consciousness and collapsed, as he urgently required medical attention.

Although he subsequently regained consciousness after a long delay, he had to be stretched off for further examination.

Due to protest from Ethiopia, designated reserve referee Kouassi Biro who is from Cote d’Ivoire could not continue the match as the centre referee.

As a result, the Assistant Referee I for the match called the captains and suspended the game.

The match was hence abandoned with 10 minutes to play where the home team was leading 3-1.