The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) played a large role in the decision of Africa soccer governing body (CAF) to change the referee for tomorrow’s AFCON quarter final game against Algeria, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Widely rated as the best referee in Africa at the moment, Omar Artan of Somalia was announced by CAF as the man who will be in the middle for the highly anticipated quarter final game.
However in a remarkable twist he was replaced following a compliant lodged against him that he used football boots from a non-approved brand, violating CAF’s sponsorship deal with Puma.
According to respected Africa football journalist Dean Ammi who is an Algerian, it was Nigeria who first alerted CAF about the violation by Ammi, which eventually led to his axing as refree for tomorrow’s game.
“EXCL: It was Nigeria that first alerted CAF about Omar Artan’s footwear, leading to the Somali official potentially being removed from Algeria vs Nigeria”, he posted on social media platform X formerly known as Twitter.
