The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has designated Egyptian referee Amin Omar to officiate the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-final match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, scheduled for Wednesday.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, made this claim in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
Mahmoud Abouelregal and Ahmed Ibrahim, two of Omar’s countrymen, will act as assistant referees 1 and 2, respectively, while Mahmood Ismail of Sudan would be the fourth official, he claimed.
According to Olajire, Aboubacar Doumbouya of Guinea will act as the referee assessor, Yacoub Elmi of Djibouti as commissioner, and Attia Amsaaed of Libya as reserve assistant referee.
“Three-time champions Nigeria and 1996 champions South Africa face off in their second-ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 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 the Democratic Republic of Congo, given the pedigree, rivalry, and ambition of the two teams,” he said.
In their 14 prior encounters at the senior level, South Africa had only triumphed against Nigeria twice. However, in 2014, Nigeria overcame the hosts 3-1 in Cape Town during an African Nations Championship match.
The Bafana Bafana are currently ranked 66th in the world and 12th in Africa, while the Eagles are currently placed 42nd in the world and sixth in Africa according to FIFA.
At the Cairo International Stadium, the Eagles defeated South Africa 2-1 in their quarterfinal matchup in 2019. William Ekong and Samuel Chukwueze came up with the objectives.
Both players are now in the team and are probably going to participate in the match on Wednesday.