5 Nigerian referees fail FIFA fitness test

• The unnamed referees missed their chance to be promoted
• All invited female referees however passed the test

Five Nigerian male football referees have failed the FIFA Physical Fitness Test held at the main bowl of the National stadium Abuja on Saturday. The match officials are among the 16 ungraded FIFA referees invited by the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) for a possible upgrade.

Seven male and nine female ungraded referees were invited for the test out of which five male failed.

Emmanuel Imiere, an instructor at the programme, who declined to mention the names of the referees, told NAN that five of them have missed the opportunity of being listed as FIFA badge referees.

“This is the first set of non-badge referees that will take this test and it is not easy but some of them didn’t take it serious.

“About fifty per cent of them passed the test and I am happy for the invited female referees because all of them passed.

“Five out of the seven invited male referees failed the test and they will wait till next year for another opportunity.”

“They can come in November for another test for them to qualify to officiate in the national league, but as an international referee, no,” Imiere said.