Nigeria referee Peter Edibe slams FIFA for dropping him from World Cup list

Nigerian FIFA badged-referee, Peter Edibe has slammed FIFA for its politics which he claims robbed Nigeria of a chance to have a referee at the world cup.

Edibe revealed that he was suddenly removed from the list with no just cause allegeding that FIFA’s god-fatherism is the reason why he was dropped from the world cup party.

Edibe further alledged that and that even his team mates, Alioum Neant and Menkouande Evarist both from Cameroon made the cut because they had Issa Hayatou who is CAF president on their side.

”My elimination from the world cup is a political issue because my team mates that we belong to the same group from Cameroon are there but I was dropped just because I don’t have a God-father, I was removed from the list but no one made noise for me because the Cameroonians had Isah Hayatou and no one could touch them. I’m supposed to be at the world cup too but no one stood for me” Edibe lamented.

Leading the African contingent of referees set for World Cup in Brazil are – Noumandiez Doue (Ivory Coast), Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia), and Djamel Haimoudi (Algeria).

Other African referees on shortlist include: Doue Noumandiez Desire (Cote d’ Ivoire), Gassama Bakary Papa (Gambia), Alioum Neant (Cameroun), and Bennett Daniel Frazer (South Africa).

The assistant referees nominated from Africa are Yeo Songuifolo (Cote d’Ivoire), Birumushahu Jean Claude (Burundi), Menkouande Evarist (Cameroon), Kabanda Felicien (Rwanda), Achik Redouane (Morocco), Etchiali Abdelhak (Algeria), Camara Djibril (Senegal), and Range Marwa (Kenya).

Europe provides nine of the 25 officiating teams, South America has five, Asia has four, Africa and the CONCACAF region have three each, and Oceania one.

The youngest referee chosen is 33-year-old Wilmar Roldan of Colombia, and the oldest is 43-year-old Noumandiez Doue of Ivory Coast.