Nigerian referees have received a cold shoulder from Confederation of African Football (CAF), as no arbiter from the country is listed for an induction course in Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
While several arbiters from across Africa have been invited for the introductory course, ahead of the introduction of VAR by the continental soccer ruling body, sports247.ng gathered that none is named from Nigeria.
The programme, which is scheduled to hold from 24th to 29th of this month, was introduced after CAF approved VAR for the Champions League and Confederation Cup finals last month.
The approval was by the continental soccer body’s executive committee, which noted that the testing process that held during the CAF Super Cup in February as successful.
CAF general secretary, Amr Fahmy said the full List of selected referees for the course are Janny Sikazwe (Zambia), Ghead Grisha (Egypt), Bamlak Tessema (Ethiopia), Papa Bakary Gassama (Gambia), Victor Gomes (South Africa) and Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria).
The Assistant Referees: Emiliano Jerson Dos Santos (Angola), Zakhele Siwela (South Africa), Jean Claude Birumushahu (Burundi), Anouar Hmila (Tunisia), Abdelhak Etchiali (Algeria) and Mahmoud Abo El Regal (Egypt).
Fahmy expatiated: “This is a historic moment for African football. It clearly shows that CAF is determined and committed to the interclub competitions and will bring on board the latest and innovative technologies to make it better.
“We (CAF) are the first confederation to use VAR in the final of the Club competitions. We did it for the CAF Super Cup and we are delighted to go a step further with the Inter clubs competitions.”
