16th January, 2014
Former Nigerian international, Joe Erico has declared that no Nigerian referee can officiate in the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup because there is no world class referee in the country.
FIFA yesterday named 89 officials that will officiate in the World Cup. Out of 13 Africans in the FIFA’s list, no Nigerian referee was listed.
Erico, former goalkeeper’s trainer of the Super Eagles told P.M.NEWS Sports early today that it is sad that a Nigerian referee could not be adjudged by FIFA to be good enough to officiate in the World Cup.
Erico explained that FIFA shunned Nigerian referees because none of them met the requirement laid down by the world football governing body. He alleged that many Nigerians who officiate in the Nigerian league matches are corrupt.
“I am not surprised that Nigerian referees will not officiate in the forthcoming World Cup because there are no world class referees in Nigeria. What we have in this country are referees who are corrupt and not good for international competitions,” he said.
He said it will take a long time for any Nigerian referee to officiate at the FIFA organised football tournaments unless the officials improve in their performance and shun any form of corruption that may tarnish their career.
“I think this is a challenge to Nigerian referees because what is the essence of officiating in the Nigerian league and CAF tournaments without being considered for the World Cup. It shows that the best club does not win league matches in Nigeria because some of the referees are bought over,” he said.
Retired FIFA badge referee, Festus Okubule said the snub by FIFA would serve as a wake-up call to the present crop of referees in the country and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
Okubule, who described the situation as ‘very unfortunate’, stated that if countries like Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa could have their referees short-listed to officiate at the World Cup then Nigerian referees had not met the expected standard to be considered for the football showpiece.
He said: “It is very unfortunate that no single referee from Nigeria has been called upon to officiate at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. It means our referees have not been able to meet the standard expected from them to officiate at a championship of that magnitude. This is because for a referee to be short-listed for a major championship, FIFA expects such referee to have performed not less than 80 per cent in three major matches in a year. It is a wake-up call for our referees to always ensure that they take matches more seriously because FIFA referee committee has their records.”
—Sunday Akintoye & Bamidele Olowosagba