Thirteen Africans have been selected by Fifa to officiate at the World Cup in Brazil without any chosen from the Nigerian Referees Association
No Nigerian referee has been chosen by Fifa to officiate at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, according to a list released on Wednesday morning.
Fifa announced a list of 25 trios and eight support duos, a total of 91 officials that will prepare for the Mundial in June.
According to Fifa, “the referees selected for the World Cup in Brazil have been chosen based especially on their personality and their quality in football understanding by being able to read the game and the teams’ tactical approaches towards each game.”
Between now and the World Cup, the selected group of match officials will participate in three seminars: February, March/April, and the last one ten days before the kick-off of the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 12.
In 2013, assistant referee Peter Edibe was the only Nigerian that was called up to Fifa organised competitions. He was one of the officials at the U20 World Cup in Turkey.
At the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN), assistant referee Abel Baba is the only Nigerian official that is part of the competition
With the suspect nature of officiating in the Nigerian Premier League, it’s no wonder Nigerian officials are not called to the biggest events in world football.
Thirteen Africans have been included in the World Cup list which also features CAF African Referee of the Year winner, Haimoudi Djamel of Algeria, and nominees Neant Alioum of Cameroon and Papa Bakary Gassama of Gambia.
Two Ivoirians made the list as well as a duo of Cameroonians and Algerians, while Kenya, South Africa, Burundi, Senegal, Gambia, Morocco and Rwanda each produced one official.
They are broken into groups of three trios and two support duos.
FULL LIST
Trios
Referee DOUE Noumandiez Desire – Côte d’Ivoire
Assistant 1 YEO Songuifolo – Côte d’Ivoire
Assistant 2 BIRUMUSHAHU Jean Claude – Burundi
Referee GASSAMA Bakary Papa – Gambia
Assistant 1 MENKOUANDE Evarist – Cameroon
Assistant 2 KABANDA Felicien – Rwanda
Referee HAIMOUDI Djamel – Algeria
Assistant 1 ACHIK Redouane – Morocco
Assistant 2 ETCHIALI Abdelhak – Algeria
Support Duos
Referee ALIOUM Neant – Cameroon
Assistant 1 CAMARA Djibril – Senegal
Referee BENNETT Daniel Frazer – South Africa
Assistant 1 RANGE Marwa – Kenya
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