CAF’s list exposes deep cracks in our refereeing culture—from corruption to incompetence—and demands urgent reform before the rot becomes irreversible.
By Paul Lucky Okoku
Nigeria has stumbled into yet another avoidable disgrace—one so glaring, even our loudest excuses cannot cover it. For the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, not a single Nigerian referee was selected. None. Zero. Not as a center referee, not as an assistant, not as a VAR official, not even as a reserve name buried at the bottom of the list.
CAF announced the officials. Nigeria was nowhere in sight.
And the silence from those entrusted with our football is deafening.
CAF’s final list for AFCON 2025 confirms the depth of our decline: Nigeria did not produce a single referee or VAR official worthy of selection. Reports point to the same troubling reasons—fitness issues, poor performance in theoretical assessments, and inadequate experience with VAR technology. Even worse, this isn’t new. We were also excluded from CHAN 2024. One Nigerian referee even admitted publicly that our officials simply did not meet the required standards. When those inside the system speak so plainly, the rest of us must stop pretending this is anything but a national embarrassment.
But this humiliation did not appear from thin air. It grew from a soil soaked with bad habits we’ve allowed for decades.
We all know what happens in our league: the home team bribes referees into “must-win” outcomes; officials cave to pressure; some award phantom last-minute penalties that leave neutral observers wondering whether the match was decided on the field or in a backroom. Visiting teams often step onto certain pitches already feeling defeated—not by the opposition, but by the officiating waiting like a trapdoor beneath their boots.
In a climate like this, how can any referee develop courage, consistency, or mastery?
How can excellence emerge from fear?
Who will volunteer to uphold integrity when integrity attracts violence, insults, and danger?
Our referees are often left unprotected—easy targets for angry supporters who believe the referee, not their club, must bleed for a loss or a draw. The threat of instant retaliation hangs over every honest official like a storm cloud. Meanwhile, administrators who should enforce discipline end up shielding the corrupt and punishing the brave.
Nigeria once produced referees who were respected globally.
I remember those days vividly.
I remember Sunny Badru, a figure whose presence alone commanded order.
I remember Festus Okubule, the Nigerian referee who officiated at the 1983 FIFA Under-21 World Cup in Mexico. When other African referees were dismissed, he was the only African retained. The only one. That was the reputation Nigerian refereeing carried. That was the standard we once lived by.
And I remember it not as a spectator, but as a participant. I was vice-captain of the Flying Eagles Class of ’83, the first Nigerian national team at any level to represent our country at a FIFA tournament. We shared that global stage with referees who earned FIFA’s trust through competence and character.
To fall from that height to this emptiness—this total omission—is a tragedy.
Our decline in refereeing mirrors our decline in continental club football. Nigerian clubs now exit African competitions with embarrassing score lines. You cannot cultivate poor officiating at home and expect brilliance abroad. Football is a system—when the backbone is crooked, the whole body limps.
And now the World Cup is coming—2026, here in North America.
If we cannot produce officials competent enough for AFCON, how do we imagine FIFA will consider us for the global stage?
The ladder to the World Cup begins in Africa, and we are not even standing on the first rung.
This is not a minor oversight. This is a red flag waving in broad daylight.
We must treat this moment as a national warning.
A sober reflection.
A demand for reform, not excuses.
Protect referees.
Retrain them rigorously.
Punish corruption without fear or favor.
Equip them with VAR experience, not theoretical shadows.
And above all—restore integrity to a system that has traded too much for too little.
Nigeria must reclaim the refereeing legacy that once made us proud.
This shame must become our turning point, not another footnote in the long archive of ignored failures.
Because this is not who we once were, and it cannot be who we remain.
Paul Lucky Okoku, former Super Eagles International & 1983 Flying Eagles Vice Captain
Reflections, In My Own Words — Championing Fairness, One Story at a Time. ✍️
Leave feedback about this