Nigeria’s top refereeing chief has moved to quash claims that CAF deliberately overlooked the country in its selection of match officials for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Nigeria Referees Association President, Sani Zubairu (FIFA Rtd) has issued a firm clarification after CAF released a 73-man list of match officials, none of whom are Nigerian.
CAF last week unveiled the full roster of referees, assistant referees, and video assistant referees for the Morocco tournament, with none of the country’s officials making the final cut.
The omission fuelled claims that CAF had sidelined the country, particularly given Nigeria’s status as a three-time African champion and a regular presence at major tournaments.
But speaking on the matter, Zubairu dismissed the narrative that Nigeria was excluded. Zubairu stressed that the issue was not neglect, but performance.
“It is wrong to say Nigeria officials were neglected or ignored, we were invited,” he told the Telegraph.
According to him, two Nigeria FIFA-graded officials had been called up for the pre-tournament training phase, but both fell short of CAF’s requirements.
“We have the centre referee and assistant referee who were invited when they went for a course in Egypt. Unfortunately, our referees did not pass the physical and technical test and were dropped.
“So that is the issue. It’s very unfortunate to know that we were invited, given the opportunity but we couldn’t make it. So that is the position.”
Zubairu explained that CAF’s selection process is rigorous and involves multiple qualifying layers.
“Once you are invited, it’s a screening exercise, it’s a test, you have to participate in the physical, tactical and medical test. And once you do that, from there, the officials that are going to be used for the tournament are picked, so that’s what happened,” he added.
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No Nigerian referee at the 2025 AFCON
Nigeria will now head into AFCON 2025 without any referee representation.
Soccernet.ng earlier confirmed that no Nigerian official appeared on CAF’s final 73-man shortlist comprising 28 referees, 31 assistant referees and 14 VAR officials.
Countries such as Benin, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Senegal were included. Nigeria stood out as the only former AFCON-winning nation in West Africa without a named official.
AFCON 2025 will run from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, with all selected officials reporting to Morocco by 15 December for an intensive preparatory camp covering physical drills, technical sessions and theoretical assessments.
