2023 AFCON snub: Nigerian referees positives of future opportunities – Sani Zubairu

By Wale Mustapha

President of Nigeria (Football) Referees Association, NRA, Mallam Sani Zubairu has expressed the association’s chances of making future significant impact in African football despite its blackout at the forthcoming 2023 African Cup of Nations, AFCON tournaments.

The Confederation of Africa Football, CAF had on Tuesday released a list of 32 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.

Mallam Zubairu who was reacting to the exclusion of Nigerian referees from next year’s tourney holding in Cote d’Ivoire saying the NRA remained upbeat that the issues will be resolved soonest.

“I’m sad and not happy about it. It is the Federation that will address it and not the NRA alone,” Zubairu told media.

“As far as I’m concerned, the present NFF board-led by Ibrahim Gusau are working towards 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.”

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