Only One Nigerian Referee Selected in New FIFA Referees List from Africa

Only One Nigerian Referee Selected in New FIFA Referees List from Africa

By Admin

Only one Nigerian Referee made the newly released list of Referees newly promoted by FIFA in the African Region.

Of the 41 Referees on the list 2 are from tiny Eswatini and Sycheles while Nigeria's next door neighbors Benin produced 3.

War torn Libya produced and South Africa had four 4 Referees each on the list.

While the list is highly dissapointing and embarrassing from the Nigerian point of view it wasn't entirely surprising.

In the past, Nigerian Referees have repeatedly failed to make the list. Also they have been repeatedly overlooked in selection of officials for major tournaments.

This has been blamed for their woeful and shameful performances in the local leagues especially the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL).

While teams in Europe pick up away wind with ease, in Nigeria it is seen as a taboo for an away team to pick up away points.

One of the reasons for this is the tendency of Nigerian Referees to award last minute penalties to home teams and also ruling out goals scored by away teams.

In their defense, the Referees have blamed the lack of adequate security at match venues and intimidation, threat of attack and sometimes attack on them by home fans for such frivolous and dubious decisions.

The League Management Company and the NFF have not helped matters as they have failed to adequately sanction such Referees in the past and also failed to work towards ensuring adequate security for the match officials and away teams.

But above that is the fact that some Referees also intentionally give home teams advantage after being induced with bribes from club officials.

No wonder Nigerian teams perform poorly outside Nigerian shores when they go for CAF tournaments like the confederation cups and Champions league.

That Enyimba has consistently done well in the continent is because of the sportsmanship spirit instituted in the club by Chief Anyansi Agwu, the Club Chairman.

Aba is the only stadium you can go and pick up a win or draw against Enyimba and both the away team and Referees will be safe.

It is hig time the NFF, LMC, the Referees Association and all football stakeholders wake up from their slumber.

Football in Nigeria is on the decline. The time to act is now.

The list of the Referees below:

41 New promoted FIFA central Referees in 2020, from CAF Region*

Issa MOUHAMED (Benin)

Daniel KASSA (Benin)

Stanislas AHOMLANTO (Benin)

Vincent KABORE (Burkina-Faso)

Nduwimana DJAFFARI (Burundi)

Paterne OUABOE (Central Africa)

Abdelkerim OUSMANE (Chad)

Nasser HOUSSEIN MAHAMOUD (Djibouti)

Jacinto Ondo ONDO NCHAMA (Equatorial Guinea)

Martin NGOMO AYINGONO (Equatorial Guinea)

Celumusa SIPHEPHO (Eswatini)

Thokozani DLAMINI (Eswatini)

Haileyesus BAZEZEW BELETE (Ethiopia)

Abdoulaye Lambert MANET (Guinea)

Patrick Tanguy VLEI (Ivory Coast)

Clement Franklin KPAN (Ivory Coast)

Moses FORKPAH (Liberia)

Shuhoub ABDULBASIT (Libya)

Abdulrazg AHMED (Libya)

Elmabrouk MUHAMMAD (Libya)

Agha MOHAMED (Libya)

Easter ZIMBA (Malawi)

Ousmane DIAKATE (Mali)

Sory Ibrahima KEITA (Mali)

Moussa DIOU (Mauritania)

Artur Adriano ALFINAR (Mozambique)

Ali Gagare MAHAMAN MAAROUFOU (Niger)

Grema MOHAMMED (Nigeria)

Ronald MADANDA (Ouganda)

Darrio LANDRY (Seychelles)

Eldrick ADELAIDE (Seychelles)

Bangura SWAHIB (Sierra Leone)

Ahmed Hassan HUSSEIN (Somalia)

Luxolo BADI (South Africa)

Thando NDZANDZEKA (South Africa)

Abongile TOM (South Africa)

Tshidiso Joy MARUPING (South Africa)

Samoal Mohamed ELFATIH ZAIEDA (Sudan)

Naim HOSNI (Tunisia)

Prince Makwaito MATHUMO (Zimbabwe)

Lawrence ZIMONDI (Zimbabwe)