The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has voiced strong frustration over the standard of officiating in domestic competitions following the absence of Nigerian referees from the list of officials selected for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Nigeria was conspicuously missing when the Confederation of African Football unveiled officials for the 2025 AFCON, scheduled to hold in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.
The decision followed months of complaints from clubs and fans about questionable officiating in the Nigeria Premier Football League, Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and Nationwide League One.
In its statement issued on Thursday, the NFF did not hide its disappointment.
The federation said: “Following an assessment of the performance of referees handling matches in all the Leagues (Nigeria Premier Football League; Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and the Nationwide League One), the Executive Committee expressed deep-seated disappointment with the scorecard of a great number of the officials, and warned that even sterner measures are on the way to curb the incidence of poor officiating, incompetence, collusion with Club officials and bare-faced manipulation of matches to favour certain teams and interests.”
As part of immediate corrective action, the NFF Refereeing Development Committee has suspended eight referees indefinitely across the NPFL, NWFL and NNL.
The officials have been barred from handling matches as the federation seeks to protect the integrity of the game.
CAF had earlier named 94 referees, instructors and assessors for the preparatory course ahead of the tournament in October, with no Nigerian included. That list was later reduced to 73 officials for the finals.
It was gathered that CAF’s selection process placed heavy emphasis on fitness levels and theoretical examinations. Nigeria’s limited exposure to the Video Assistant Referee system also counted against its officials, with inadequate practical experience proving a major setback.
Speaking on the issue, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, revealed that the federation had already taken steps to address the technological gap by engaging stadium owners on VAR installation.
“We don’t own the stadiums. The stadiums are owned by either the state governments or the federal government. So we can only appeal to the owners of the stadiums to install them. We are also going to do our own. We are going to work with them hand-in-hand,” Sanusi told The Punch.
The president of the Nigeria Referees Association, Sanni Zubair, also admitted that Nigerian officials fell short of CAF’s requirements, stressing that FIFA certification alone was no longer enough.
“Being a FIFA ref doesn’t mean you are qualified. The only elite referee that we have, when they went for the tests, he didn’t pass the test,” Zubair said.
“Yes, we have referees in the country, but it is like being in a university where we have different levels. So, every year we have people moving from one level to another level.
“Every year, we have courses and exams, and hopefully, they will be invited for elite tests soon. We have so many FIFA referees; when they invite them for the elite course, and they pass it, we will be back on track. That is what we are waiting for.”
