{"id":48318,"date":"2026-01-24T22:15:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=48318"},"modified":"2026-01-24T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:15:57","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignzimbabwean-referee-makes-history-after-officiating-epl-game-but-pep-guardiola-not-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/24\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignzimbabwean-referee-makes-history-after-officiating-epl-game-but-pep-guardiola-not-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwean referee makes history after officiating EPL game, but Pep Guardiola not happy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-139682\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t<!-- .entry-header -->&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" width=\"497\" height=\"264\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zimbabwean-referee-makes-history-after-officiating-EPL-game-but-Pep.png?resize=497%2C264&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"object-contain h-46 w-full rounded-lg  md:rounded-none md:rounded-lg wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FARAI_HALLAM_ZIMBABWE.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FARAI_HALLAM_ZIMBABWE.png?resize=300%2C160&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FARAI_HALLAM_ZIMBABWE.png?resize=497%2C264&amp;ssl=1 497w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content custom-text-styles\">\n<div class=\"soccer24-advanced-banner soccer24-banner-type-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zimbabwean-referee-makes-history-after-officiating-EPL-game-but-Pep.jpeg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Banner2image\" class=\"soccer24-banner-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p>UK-born Zimbabwean referee Farai Hallam has made history after becoming the first referee of African heritage to officiate in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>Hallam was the centre referee in the match between Manchester City and Wolves.<\/p>\n<p>City won the match 2\u20130, with Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo both scoring in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>However, City coach Pep Guardiola was not happy with one of Hallam\u2019s decisions. The coach was incensed after his side were denied a penalty following a handball.<\/p>\n<p>The incident was referred to VAR, who recommended Hallam review the monitor, but the referee maintained his initial judgement that it was not a penalty, stating that the defender\u2019s arms were in a natural position when the ball struck him.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after the game, Guardiola said: \u201cThe referee made a huge debut. Now everybody will know him. I think it\u2019s the first time they go to the TV and disallow what is a \u2018normal\u2019 position of the arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am pretty sure (referees chief) Howard Webb is going to appear in the media with an explanation why it is not a penalty and what they have done against United.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is the first time they have done it but the situation was a little bit of a doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Pic: Pindula<\/em><\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related Posts<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content -->&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t<!-- \n\n<footer class=\"entry-footer\">\n\t\t<span class=\"cat-links\">Posted in Local<\/span><span class=\"tags-links\">Tagged EPL, Farai Hallam, Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Wolves, Zimbabwean referee<\/span>\t<\/footer>\n\n -->&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Zimbabwean #referee #history #officiating #EPL #game #Pep #Guardiola #happy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; UK-born Zimbabwean referee Farai Hallam has made history after becoming the first referee of African heritage&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4262,347,205,962,2027,3216,204,306,494],"class_list":["post-48318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-example-3","tag-epl","tag-game","tag-guardiola","tag-happy","tag-history","tag-officiating","tag-pep","tag-referee","tag-zimbabwean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48320,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48318\/revisions\/48320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}