Nigeria referees miss out on 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup roster

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

There won’t be any referee from Nigeria at the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup as released by the global football governing body this week.

The FIFA Referees Committee announced the match officials who will officiate at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024, which will take place from 16 October to 3 November.

A total of 38 female match officials, comprising 12 referees, 24 assistant referees, and 2 support referees, will take charge of the matches.

With Nigeria missing out, other African countries made the cut. Six African referees made the roster from Algeria, Uganda, Morocco, Egypt, Mali, and Zambia.

Mehat Ghada (Algeria), Nabadda Shamira (Uganda), Hamdi Soukaina (Morocco), Abdelfattah Yara (Egypt), Kone Fanta (Mali), and Kasitu Nancy (Zambia) are the African arbiters appointed for the tournament.

“We have selected a talented group of match officials, with the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup set to play a key role in their development. After the successful FIFA Women’s World Cup last year, we are already working on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027. Knowing that an important generational change in FIFA TEAM ONE will be necessary, this tournament will offer match officials who have the potential to be candidates for Brazil 2027 to work under the guidance of top FIFA refereeing instructors,” said the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina said as captured by FIFA website.

“Additionally, we look forward to further trialing football video support, which offers a clear example of how FIFA is driving the use of technology to help referees.”