Duro Ikhazuagbe
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released 68 names of match officials for the Africa Cup of Nations holding next month in Cote d’Ivoire without a single Nigerian arbiter on duty.
Of the 26 match referees, 30 assistant referees and 12 Video Assistant Referees (VAR) listed by CAF, all Nigerian referees, including our FIFA badged officials were conveniently ignored.
This is not the first time CAF is overlooking Nigerian referees for continental duties in the last couple of years.
They simply were found not good enough for the premier football tournament in Africa.
Interestingly, while Nigerians were ignored, Morocco, Africa’s first country to play in the semi final of the last World Cup in Qatar, featured prominently in the three tiers of officiating.
The Moroccans have three of the 26 referees, two of the 30 Assistant Referees and two of the 12 VAR officials totaling seven.
Egypt also have two referees, two assistant referees and also, two VAR officials. Ostensibly, the VAR officials are drawn from the African countries where VAR is operative.
VAR is currently not in operation in Nigeria’s domestic games.
According to a release by CAF, all selected referees are expected to arrive in Cote d’Ivoire on January 5, 2024 for a refresher course which will be inclusive of physical and theoretical testing of all officials.
