{"id":2139,"date":"2026-09-26T06:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/?p=2139"},"modified":"2026-09-26T06:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:37:28","slug":"fifa-names-nigerian-referee-among-81-officials-for-under-17-world-cupseptember-25-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/26\/fifa-names-nigerian-referee-among-81-officials-for-under-17-world-cupseptember-25-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA NAMES NIGERIAN REFEREE AMONG 81 OFFICIALS FOR UNDER-17 WORLD CUPSEPTEMBER 25, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria will end a 25-year wait for a centre referee at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup after Zamfara-born official Abiola Kasimu Abdulsalam was selected among the match officials for this year\u2019s tournament in Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 34-year-old is the only Nigerian centre referee on FIFA\u2019s list and one of four referees selected from Africa for the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a post obtained from FIFA\u2019s website on Thursday, the world football governing body named 81 officials for the tournament, comprising 27 referees and 54 assistant referees from 36 member associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdulsalam\u2019s selection marks the first time in 25 years that a Nigerian centre referee will officiate at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdulsalam has built considerable international experience, having participated in two CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments as well as several WAFU competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His recent performances also earned him another major assignment, as he was the centre referee in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture between Cameroon and Comoros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdulsalam became a FIFA-listed referee in 2022 and has retained his international badge through the annual assessment process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also the only Nigerian referee selected for the 2025 African Nations Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina said the officials selected for the Under-17 World Cup were among the organisation\u2019s most promising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collina said the appointments were based not only on the officials\u2019 performances but also on their ability to operate effectively within international teams and cope with the demands of a major tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FIFA Under-17 World Cup will give Abdulsalam another opportunity to gain experience on the global stage and further his development as an international referee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria will end a 25-year wait for a centre referee at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup after Zamfara-born official Abiola […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"kufmtv","author_link":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/author\/kufmtv\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Nigeria will end a 25-year wait for a centre referee at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup after Zamfara-born official Abiola […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2141,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions\/2141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kufmtv.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}