The Confederation of African Football (CAF) don again leave Nigerian referees comot from di list of officials wey go handle matches for di upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for Morocco.
Last Friday, CAF release di names of 94 referees, instructors, and assessors wey dem shortlist for preparatory training ahead of di tournament — but none come from Nigeria.
President of di Nigeria Referees Association, Sanni Zubair, explain say di reason behind di snub na because Nigerian refs never meet CAF qualification standard. According to am, only one Nigerian referee dey for di “elite” category — and even he no pass di recent CAF test.
“To be honest, we no qualify. Being a FIFA referee no mean say you go automatically make CAF elite list. Our only elite referee no pass di test,” Zubair talk.
E add say di disqualification come from issues of fitness, theory knowledge, and lack of VAR experience. He talk say di referees dey try improve and dem hope say some go soon pass di elite course.
“Every year, we dey do exams and courses. Once our referees pass di elite test, we go bounce back. Na just matter of time,” he talk.
Earlier this year, di Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) don decorate 30 FIFA referees — including 11 match referees, 11 assistants, 4 futsal, and 4 beach soccer officials. But despite di badge, CAF no still shortlist any of dem for AFCON.
One of di affected referees wey no wan make dem mention e name, talk say Nigerian refs still dey among di best for Africa.
“We still dey get CAF games, even if dem no pick us for AFCON. But NFF need to play politics small too. Other countries dey push their people,” he yarn.
With this latest exclusion, Nigeria go dey without any referee representation for di continent’s biggest football competition once again.
