2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup: No Nigerian Referee Among 8 Picked From Africa

World football governing body, FIFA has ignored picking any Nigerian Referee after selecting 8 officials from other African countries to officiate at this year’s World cup in Qatar. 

FIFA shortlisted the eight African referees among 36 referees, 63 assistant referees and 36 VAR officials who will be selected for the tournament.

The world football governing body will announce the final list of referees one month before the World Cup starts.

Gambian referee Bakary Papa Gassama is among the eight (8) referees from Africa that made the preliminary list. He officiated in the 2014 and 2018 editions in Brazil and Russia respectively.

Most of these referees officiated at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which was held in February in Cameroon.

They are expected to undergo training for some months ahead of the tournament, which kick starts in seven months.

African referees on the list are;

Victor Gomez (South Africa)

Janny Sikazwe(Zambia)

Jean Jacques Ndala(DR Congo)

Mustapha Ghorbal(Algeria)

Redouane Jiyed (Morocco)

Tesssema Balmak(Ethiopia)

Maguette N’diaye (Senegal)

Africa will be represented by five countries ( Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal) in the upcoming world cup. The match will begin on 21st November and ends on 18th December 2022.