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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has explained why Nigerian referees are not selected to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and other football tournaments on the continent.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Noumandiez Desire Doue, a top official of the African soccer governing body gave the explanation.
No Nigerian referee was selected among the officials for the biennial competition, a decision that has been debated among football stakeholders within the country.
Doue who also doubles as CAF’s Head of Refereeing and Football Technology further explained that Nigerian referees are good but they need to do more.
According to him, CAF goes for the best on the continent and not just average referees.
Doue made this disclosure during an interaction with journalists at the CAF AFCON Referees’ Open Day that took place at the Asec Mimosa club’s training pitch on Thursday.
“You have good referees in Nigeria and to come to AFCON you have to be the best.
“Good referees are for the Zones, you have to be the best to come to the CAF Competitions.
“Nigeria referees are improving but they need to do more to be among the best because the selection has started in the last one and a half years.
“We are in the scouting process of evaluating and to the end of selection.
“We have different stages, you start from young talent to elite B, elite A and professional, it’s among the elite B we picked for the AFCON”, he said.