Nigerian Referees Upbeat Despite CAF Snub For AFCON 2023

President of the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), Sani Zubairu, has reacted to the exclusion of Nigerian referees from next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition in Cote d’Ivoire, saying they remained upbeat that the issues will be resolved soonest.

The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) had on Tuesday night released a list of 32 centre referees, 33 assistant referees and four VAR officials, eight technical and physical instructors, among others, for 2023 AFCON’s preparation course without a single Nigerian referee on the list.

However, reacting to the development, NRA boss said the association in collaboration with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was working toward resolving the issue and Nigerian referees would soon be considered for CAF and FIFA competitions.

Zubairu, who spoke to LEADERSHIP via telephone, said: “I’m sad and not happy about it. It is the Federation that will address it and not the NRA alone.

“As far as I’m concerned, the present NFF board-led by Ibrahim Gusau are working toward resolving the problem in which our referees are always overlooked for CAF and FIFA competitions. Since he came to power, Ibrahim Gusau vowed that he will ensure that Nigerian referees get to participate in CAF and FIFA competitions before the end of his tenure. But it is not going to happen overnight, there are procedures and processes to follow for us to succeed and we are working toward it,” Zubairu told LEADERSHIP.

LEADERSHIP reports only one Nigerian referee, Samuel Pwadutakam, was selected as assistant official at the last edition of the AFCON in Cameroon out of the 63 match officials that officiated the tournament.