Ghanaian FIFA referee, Charles Bulucollapsed while officiating the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between the Ivory Coast and Ethiopia
It is unclear the cause of his collapse, but reports suggest he was fatigued.
Everything was fine in the game as Cote d’Ivoire led 3-1 by the 80th minute courtesy goals from Willy Boly, Frank Kessie and Jean Evrard Kouassi with Getaneh Kebede scoring for Ethiopia.
However, after 80 minutes of action, Charles Bulu collapsed on the pitch. He subsequently regained consciousness after a long while following medical intervention.
He was later stretched off the pitch and was replaced by the fourth referee, Kouassi Biro from the Ivory Coast.
This led to several protests by the Ethiopian team and led to an 11-minute hold up before one of the assistant referees was then brought in to officiate the remainder of the match.
The game ended 3-1 but Ethiopia still booked their place at next year’s AFCON after Madagascar failed to beat bottom of the table Niger in the group’s other game. A win for Madagascar would have put them through at the expense of Ethiopia but the game ended goalless in Antananarivo.
