Abidjan, Feb. 6, 2024 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed Egyptian, Amin Omar as referee for Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-final encounter between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
Ademola Olajire, Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said Omar’s compatriots,Mahmoud Abouelregal and Ahmed Ibrahim, would play the roles of assistant referee 1, and assistant referee 2, while Sudanese Mahmood Ismail will serve as fourth official
Olajire said that Attia Amsaaed from Libya would be the reserve assistant referee, with Yacoub Elmi from Djibouti as commissioner and Aboubacar Doumbouya from Guinea as referee assessor.
“Three-time champions Nigeria and 1996 champions South Africa face off in their second-ever Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash at the Stade de la Paix.
“Their only previous meeting at the same stage, at the National Stadium in Lagos when Nigeria co-hosted the 2000 finals with Ghana, ended 2-0 in favour of Nigeria.
“Wednesday’s clash is being billed as the more potentially-explosive of the two semi-finals, hosts Cote d’Ivoire will be up against Democratic Republic of Congo, given the pedigree, rivalry and ambition of the two teams,” he said.
South Africa only defeated Nigeria twice in 14 previous meetings at full senior level, though Nigeria edged an African Nations Championship clash by beating the hosts 3-1 in Cape Town in 2014.
The Eagles are presently ranked 42nd in the world by FIFA, 6th in Africa, while the Bafana Bafana are 66th in the world and 12th in Africa.
In 2019, both teams met at the quarter-final stage, with the Eagles beating South Africa at the Cairo International Stadium 2-1, the goals came from Samuel Chukwueze and William Ekong.
Both players are in the present squad and likely to be part of Wednesday’s battle. (NAN)
