THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed Egyptian Amin Mohamed Omar as the centre referee for the AFCON 2023 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final fixture between the Super Eagles of and Bafana Bafana of South Africa billed for tomorrow in Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire.
Omar’s compatriots Mahmoud Kamel Abouelregal and Ahmed Hossam Ibrahim will be assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively, while Sudanese Mahmood Ali Ismail will serve as the fourth official.
Attia Essa Amsaaed from Libya will be the reserve assistant referee, with Yacoub Ali Elmi from Djibouti working as the match commissioner and Aboubacar Doumbouya from Guinea as the referee assessor.
The match between three-time African champions Nigeria and 1996 AFCON winners South Africa will kick off at 6pm Nigerian time at the Stade de la Paix, and it is the first time the Super Eagles are playing outside Abidjan at AFCON 2023.
The encounter will be the second time both teams are meeting in an AFCON semi-final, with Nigeria winning their previous clash 2-0 in Lagos in 2000, incidentally the last time South Africa reached that stage of the tournament.
South Africa have only beaten Nigeria twice in 14 previous meetings at senior level, with the West Africans winning seven of the previous clashes.
The Super Eagles are currently ranked 42nd in the world by FIFA (sixth in Africa) while Bafana Bafana are 66th in the world (12th in Africa).
The last match between the two teams was four years ago in Cairo, Egypt, in the quarter-finals of the 2019 AFCON with the Super Eagles winning 2-1.
Samuel Chukwueze and William Troost-Ekong scored Nigeria’s goals back then and both players are in the AFCON 2023 squad, with the latter captaining the side.
