The Confederation of African Football has explained the consistent snub of Nigerian referees for tournaments, CAF’s Head of Refereeing, Desire Noumandiez Doue, suggested that they were simply not good enough.
Noumandiez Doue noted that although the country boasted some good officials, only the best on the continent are considered for CAF tournaments.
He further urged Nigerian referees to improve their performances in order to increase their chances of being picked for subsequent competitions.
“You have good referees in Nigeria, but this is our message to them, they need to come to the CAF competition, especially to the AFCON,” he said during the AFCON in Ivory Coast.
“We don’t need good referees; good referees are for the MAs, and good referees are for the zone, in CAF we need the best, so Nigerian referees are good, but they can still improve if they need assistance.
“They need to do more to be among the best because the selection has been started for one year and a half, so we are in a continuous process of scouting, evaluating, and selecting.”
It’s now been 18 years since a Nigerian official refereed an AFCON game. The country also had just one assistant referee selected for the 2021 edition.
By: Pascal Amoah
