There will seemingly be an absence of Nigerian match officials at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, despite referees from more than 26 countries being selected for a preparatory course ahead of the showpiece.
CAF has listed 85 referees to take part in a preparation course ahead of the next AFCON, according to Premium Times via allAfrica
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The course is said to serve as a refresher ahead of the continent's showpiece tournament, and the absence of Nigerian referees in its enrolment suggests there may not be any match officials from the country at the competition scheduled to kick off in the Ivory Coast in January 2024.
The list of officials that were selected for the course include centre referees, assistant referees, video assistant referees (VAR), technical instructors, physical trainers, VAR technicians and IT support.
Egypt and Algeria have the highest number of names included in the centre referees list with three each, while Morocco, Mauritania, and Mauritius have two each.
Two South African names are said to feature on the assistant referees list, while another was selected to be part of the group of VAR referees.
Morocco, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Egypt also have two assistant referees each attending the course, while three VAR technicians and IT support were selected from north African behemoths Egypt.
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Nigeria faced a similar lack of representation last year, when only one of its countrymen was selected among the 63 officials for the AFCON tournament in Cameroon.
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