The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has revealed why Nigerian referees are not chosen to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations and other football events on the continent.
While speaking on Thursday during a CAF referees training session at Sol Beni (ASEC Mimosas Training Centre) in Abidjan, Head of Refereeing at the CAF, Noumandiez Doue, said Nigerian referees are good but need to do more.
No Nigerian referee has been chosen among the officials for the AFCON for 18 years. Meanwhile, this decision has been debated among football stakeholders within Nigeria.
In September 2023, Nigerian football fans criticized the released lists of referees for the 2023 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations currently taking place in Cote d’Ivoire in 2024 for not having any referee from the country.
While justifying the selection, Doue said CAF opts for the best in Africa and not just average referees.
He said: “You have good referees in Nigeria and to come to AFCON you have to be the best.
“Good referees are for the Zones, you have to be the best to come to the CAF competitions.
“Nigeria referees are improving but they need to do more to be among the best because the selection has started in the last one and a half years.
“We are in the scouting process of evaluating and to the end of selection.
“We have different stages, you start from young talent to elite B, elite A, and professional, it’s among the elite B we picked for the AFCON.”
