SHOCKER: CAF drop Nigerian referees for CHAN 2018 championship

By Taofeek Babalola

 

No Nigerian referee will be on duty when the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) commence in Morocco in January, Sportinglens.blogspot.com can reveal.

Nigerian officials were conspicuously missing in the names of the arbitrators appointed by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Referees Committee to officiate at the biennial championship that only features players who ply their trade in the domestic leagues. 

It was gathered that Ferdinand Udoh was dropped from the initial Forty-four (44) referees and assistant referees who were in Egyptian capital, Cairo, between 27 November and 1 December, for a five-day training programme to select match officials for the final tournament.


The course included theoretical sessions which discussed topics such as technical and tactical analysis of the game, reviewing of video clips of matches amongst others, and practical sessions with players which held at the Technical Centre of the Egyptian Football Association.

The reasons for his non-inclusion has not been ascertained as at the time of writing this report.  

 

Despite improvement in the appointment of the Nigerian officials for the CAF assignment of recent, the CAF Referees Committee did not deem it fit to recognise them for the championship.

The 39 referees appointed include sixteen referees, sixteen assistant referees and seven Video Assistant Referees.   

The 2018 edition which will feature Nigeria’s Super Eagles and 15 others countries in four groups will be held from January 13 to February 4.

Nigeria has been drawn in Group C alongside Libya, Rwanda and Equatorial Guinea at the competition.

However, Super Eagles are currently participating in the ongoing NPFL invitational tournament in Kano as part of the team’s preparation for the CHAN.

At the last edition, the Super Eagles failed to make it beyond the group stage in Rwanda.

Morocco replaced Kenya as the hosts of the 2018 CHAN after Kenya was stripped of the rights to host the competition due to a lack of progress with preparations.