Nigerian referees good enough for World Cup matches – Lim Kee- Chong

Lim Kee-Chong, a former FIFA referee
from Mauritius, has rated Nigerian
referees high as calls for their
participations at the FIFA Senior
World Cup thickens.
Kee-Chong, who spoke with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after a
week-long FIFA Member Association
Elite Referees Course, had in April
2014 tipped Nigerian referees to
officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
He said that the appointment of
Nigerian referees for CAF matches
and other FIFA age-group
international competitions was a
sign of the tremendously
improvement among the referees in
the last 12 months.
“For sure, you can assess it when
you see their officiating outside the
country at international level.
“So, if they are appointed regularly,
it means that their level is going
high; there is an improvement for
sure.
“Yesterday I asked them again, do
you hope to be there (FIFA World
Cup) because everybody is saying
Nigeria is a big country.
“Every time their team is going to
the World Cup what about to have
one referee there one day; they have
to commit themselves, they can be
there.’’
NAN recalls Carlos Henriques, a FIFA
Referee Development Officer, had
called on Nigerian referees to forget
about World Cup officiating ambition
for now.
He advised them to concentrate
more on how to secure the Africa
Cup of Nations (AFCON) slots.
Henriques said that the Nigerian
referees needed all the support they
could get to earn a World Cup slot.
NAN also recalls that World football
governing body, FIFA, had appointed
a Nigerian referee, Jelili
Ogunmuyiwa, to officiate at this
year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
competition.
The competition is scheduled to take
place in Espinho, Portugal, between
July 9 and July 19.
Ogunmuyiwa, who officiated the final
match of last month’s African Beach
Soccer Championship in Seychelles,
between Madagascar and Senegal, is
among only three Africans in the 24-
man list for the global tournament.
A Nigerian match official, Peter
Edibi, was also selected by CAF to
officiate at the 2015 Africa Cup of
Nations Cup (AFCON) hosted by
Equatorial Guinea.
NAN reports that the FIFA Member
Association Elite Referees Course
also had FIFA instructors like Mark
Nzengo from Malawi and Linus Mba
from Nigeria in attendance.