Confederation of African Football (CAF) Head of Refereeing, Desire Noumandiez Doue, has said Nigeria referees were not selected for the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) because they are not good but only the best officiates at AFCON.
Speaking at the training session of the CAF referees at Sol Beni (ASEC Mimosas Training Centre) in Abidjan on Thursday, Doue said it is important for Nigerian referees to do their best to meet the CAF standard.
There were worries among football lovers after CAF snubbed Nigerian referees for this year’s AFCON as over 85 referees, comprising Referees, Assistant Referees, Video Assistant Referees (VARs), Technical instructors, Physical Coaches, VAR Technicians, and IT Support are involved in the competition.
According to Doue, “You have good Referees in Nigeria but our message to them is that they need to be among the best to come to CAF competition, especially the AFCON.
“We don’t need good Referees, good Referees are for the Member Associations, good referees are for the Zone, in CAF we need the best, so Nigerian Referees are good, they need assistance to improve. They need to do more to be among the best because the selection started one and a half years ago, so we are in a continuous process of scouting, evaluating, and selecting.
“There are different stages, we start with the Young Talent, then Elite B, and after that, Elite A, then Professional among the best and it’s among the elite A we picked from AFCON,” he added.
For a Nigerian Referee to be in the next AFCON in 2005, the Nigeria Football Federation through the Refereeing department must adopt and implement processes that will help the Referees attain the status of being among the best in Africa.
