3rd October, 2013
World football-governing body, FIFA, has appointed veteran official, Walter Gagg from Switzerland as Observer for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying final elimination round match between Ethiopia and Nigeria scheduled for Addis Ababa on Sunday, 13 October.
The world body has also confirmed that the match will start at 4pm Ethiopia time, which is 2pm Nigeria time.
FIFA also appointed Cameroonian referee, Neant Alioum to take charge of the potentially-explosive game, with Alioum’s compatriots Evarist Menkouande, Yanoussa Moussa and Henry Duvalier Mouandjo Kalla as Assistant Referee 1, Assistant Referee 2 and Fourth Official
respectively.
Egyptian Essam Siam will be Referee Assessor, with Wilfred Mukuna from Zimbabwe as Match Commissioner and Kenyan Nicholas Musonye as Security Officer.
Meanwhile, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari said on Thursday the victory for the Super Eagles in Addis Ababa next weekend would pave the way for Nigeria’s 2014 FIFA World Cup ticket.
“The clash between Nigeria and Ethiopia is a two-legged affair, but we know that if we win in Ethiopia on Sunday next week, 90 per cent of the job would have been done.
“Of course, we are taking both legs of the fixture very serious. But we are determined to prove in Addis Ababa that we are the champions of Africa and we can win on any soil,” Maigari told the media in Abuja.
The NFF spoke at the occasion of presentation of the report of an investigative committee set up to unravel circumstances behind a petition lodged with world football-governing body, FIFA, by a former Chairman of the Nigeria Premier League, Chief Rumson Baribote. FIFA has since dismissed Baribote’s petition as having no legs to stand on.
Speaking further on the match, Maigari called on the entire Nigeria football family, including media practitioners, to work in unison with the NFF and pray towards a Super Eagles’ triumph in Addis Ababa on Sunday, 13 October.
The African champions face the lowest ranked team left in the race in the continent at the National Stadium, Addis Ababa in the first leg, with the return scheduled for the U. J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar on Saturday, 16 November.