Executive committee member of Nigeria Football Federation and chairman of Referees Committee, Alhaji Rabiu Inuwa has expressed the optimism that at least one Nigerian referee will be picked to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Completesports.com reports.
Alhaji Inuwa told Complete Sports in a chat during the 2020/2021 FIFA fitness test for Nigerian referees in Abuja, that the NFF has been grooming some young referees who hopefully will be ready to be selected to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“We have been working and grooming some group of young referees who have been doing well in our domestic games and at continental level. I am very sure that FIFA has noticed their improvement and will consider one of two of them for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup,” Alhaji Inuwa told Completesports.com.
“It has been our target for some years and we only just missed getting any of our referees to make the cut for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Now their performance has further improved since then. Our boys have come of age, and I am sure their development will not be overlooked by FIFA,” Alhaji Inuwa who is also the chairman of Kano State Football Association reiterated.
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He said Covid-19 pandemic did not help their development as they have not been involved in football activities since early this year, adding that the NFF in liaison with the Nigeria Football Referees Association, are working tirelessly to get them up to speed.
Thirty FIFA badged referees attended the training in which Alhaji Inuwa charged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria and to work diligently to be among the best in the world.
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
2 Comments
I pray…!
Lets first target getting our Nigerian refs into CAF CL and AFCON finals before talking about WC proper. You cant officiate at world cup if you’ve not been prominent in your continental competitions, especially in the later stages like the semis and finals.
Thumbs up Drey. Always spot on as ever. Yes, we should aim for those to start with.