NFF sacks retired referees from list of match commissioners

• Stops individual above 65 years • Rolls out new qualification criteria

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has removed the names of all retired referees from the list of match commissioners in Nigeria’s domestic game.

The Match Commissioners’ Appointment Committee of the NFF yesterday rolled out new criteria for interested football stakeholders to meet in order to be considered for the role of match commissioners in NPFL matches.

Rising from its inauguration and inaugural meeting in the Federal Capital, Abuja yesterday, Chairman of the NFF Match Commissioners’ Appointment Committee, Alhaji Babagana Kalli announced that henceforth, no individual above the age of 65 or below the age of 30 would be considered for the role.

“In addition, we have now expunged the names of all retired referees from the list of match commissioners. Means of identification would now be by international passport, national identity card of driver’s license, and computer literacy is now a key requirement for anyone who wishes to be considered for the role of match commissioner in Nigeria.”

Earlier, at the inauguration, First Vice President of the NFF, Barr. Seyi Akinwunmi, who stood in for the NFF President, charged the committee to develop workable criteria to drastically reduce the number of match commissioners in the country, as the NFF considered the present number bogus and impracticable considering the number of matches played over a season.

Akinwunmi reiterated that the roles of the referee and the match commissioner are the most crucial in the general management of a football game, and that administrators must regularly seek to improve the policies and methods through which the best hands must emerge, fully prepared, for both roles. “We must