NIGERIAN officials have been left out again as FIFA named referees, assistant referees and video assistant match officials for the U-20 World Cup taking place in Argentina from May 20 to June 11.
The world football governing body also did not include any Nigerian official among for the Women’s World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
Nigeria qualified for both tournaments but no match official from the country was considered good enough to handle games.
However, there are several African match officials included in the list released last night.
Of the 25 referees, there are four from Africa: Abdel Aziz Bouh from Mauritania, Mohamed Marouf from Egypt, Issa Sy from Senegal and South Africa’s Tom Abongile.
There are 38 assistant referees set for the tournament, with one each from Senegal, Angola, Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria, while there is one Egyptian and one Moroccan among the 18 video match officials.
“It is a particular joy to be able to hold the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina and Argentina will be a great venue for this important competition which is the beginning of a new cycle leading to the FIFA World Cup 2026,” chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina said.
The selected match officials will participate a few days before the tournament kicks off in a final preparation seminar, reviewing and analysing video clips of real-match situations, and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from the instructors.
“After the successful FIFA World Cup in Qatar last November and December, this competition in Argentina will give talented FIFA match officials the opportunity to show their quality while taking another step forward in their career,” Collina added.
