The star of Uganda’s youngest referee Jabeth Ojilong Elly keeps shining brighter in his steps towards becoming Uganda's top football referee.

Following his impressive performance as a centre referee in the local league and regional schools championship, Ojilong has been named on the 21-man list of referees for this year’s CAF Africa Schools Championship due May 21 to 24 at the recently refurbished Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar.

Ojilong is the only Ugandan to make the list for the 2nd edition of the championship and joins Kevin Tuyihimbaze (Rwanda), Habib Hamad Habib (Tanzania), and female Ishimwe Rolande Cressy (Burundi) as the only three selected from the East Africa region.

“I feel humbled and encouraged to keep working hard and I thank God for the guidance. I promise to go to Zanzibar and do my best to keep the trust,” said Ojilong.

The 17-year-old who goes to S.5 at Amus College School was at the centre of several tricky fixtures at the just concluded USSSA boys’ national football championship in Masaka.

Jabeth Ojilong shakes hands with Kimaanya captain

In the championship, he handled the quarterfinal meeting between home side Blessed Sacrament Kimaanya and record winners St Mary’s Kitende, watched by a mammoth crowd with Kitende winning 2-0 but no rants came from Kimaanya supporters.

Ojilong’s highest level of officiating on the local scene this year has been in the Uganda Premier League second-round matches following his promotion in January.

He has also handled USSSA under 16 national championships, FUFA Odilo tournaments, USSSA Elite games, USSSA Teso zonal qualifiers, CECAFA under 15 in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, the FUFA Big League, FUFA women elite league, FUFA Juniors League and the Uganda Cup.

Ojilong Jabeth (middle) warns Kimaanya and Kitende team leaders

The soft-spoken lad and former student of Ngora High School who passed UCE with a first grade (Agg 20), is the youngest FUFA national referee in the country.

Born on 02/09/2006 as the second born to Samuel Ojilong (primary teacher) and Calorine Amoding (secretary) of Kadok village in Ngora district, Ojilong attended Bazaar Ward Primary School and  Ngora High School for O’Level and now at Amus College for high school.

CECAFA will be represented by girls and boys champions and both Ugandans Kawempe Moslem and St Mary’s Kitende and the winner will pocket $300,000 (About 1,095,000,000USH) and $200,000 (about 730,000,000USH) for the runners-up while the bronze medalists will each take home $150,000 (547,500,000USH) courtesy of CAF’s partnership with the Motsepe Foundation.