FIFA Shuns Nigerian Referees For U-17 Women’s W/Cup

World football governing body, FIFA has released the list of 61 officials to take charge of the forthcoming 2022 U-17 Women’s World Cup in India with Morocco and Mauritania getting slot each for centre referees.
Despite Nigeria female referees international showing especially at the continent, FIFA did not select a Nigerian official for the tournament. FIFA-badged referees, Ndidi Madu and Mimisen Iyorhe made the initial pre-selection.
The duo of Karboubi Bouchra of Morocco and Rivet Maria of Mauritania were the two center referees selected from Africa while Jeroumi Fatiha and Hamdi Soukaira both Moroccans as well as Victoire Queency of Mauritania and Atef Said Yara of Egypt are appointed assistant refrees.
Abebe Lidya Tafesse of Ethiopian and Viana Letticia of Eswatini will man the Video Assistant Referee, VAR
FIFA last Tuesday released the list of 14 women referees, 28 women assistant referees, three support referees and 16 video match officials appointed for the tournament due to commence next month.
Africa is represented by eight referees in the competition which will deploy VAR technology for the first time at an U-17 FIFA women’s youth competition
FIFA also announced that the appointed officials for the India championship will also be candidates for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023
“We are delighted that the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup is returning after a four-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are really looking forward to this important competition in India taking place in October. For the match officials, of course, it’s another big stage in the preparation of the potential candidates for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023,” said the chairman of the FIFA’s Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina.
“As already mentioned on several occasions and following appointments of referees for other FIFA competitions, we’ve always worked aiming for uniformity and consistency in decision-making. We are convinced that the appointed match officials can gain useful experience with a view to the biggest women’s football competition in the world, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand next year,” he added.