Jérôme Efong Nzolo (born 21 September 1974 in

Bitam Bitam is a town in northern Gabon on the N2 road (Gabon), N2 road on the border with Cameroon. As of the 2013 census, its population is 27,923. It is home to a large Market (place), market and an Bitam Airport, airport. Climate Reference ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

) is a former

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. He was the first black referee in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

. Nzolo arrived in Belgium from Gabon in 1995 to start his studies as an

electromechanical In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...

engineer in

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. Although having refereed since 14 years of age in Gabon, he followed another refereeing education and training in 1996. In the year 2000 he was already refereeing matches at the fourth level of Belgian football, while on 26 January 2006 he made his debut at the highest level. In Gabon, he refereed the 1994 final of the Gabonese Cup in front of attendance of around 40,000 people. He became a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

referee in 2008. His first international match came on 26 May 2008 when he was in charge of the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. After failing three consecutive times for mandatory physical tests, it was announced he would skip the final test and abandon refereeing on 2 April 2015.De Standaard
"Nzolo laat laatste test schieten en is scheidsrechter af"
Retrieved on 02 April 2015.

References

Jérôme Efong Nzolo (31) is the first coloured referee in the first division
1974 births Living people Belgian football referees Gabonese emigrants to Belgium People from Woleu-Ntem Province {{Belgium-footy-bio-stub