By Albert Akota
Nigeria’s FIFA graded referees will take their turn at the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja today as the curtain falls on this year’s physical fitness exercise for the country’s arbiters.
The exercise, which started on Monday, has seen about 500 referees test their physical fitness in different ways as designed by world football –governing body, FIFA.
The FIFA –graded referees, including the likes of Opeyemi Amao, Ferdinand Udoh, Abubakar Ago, Abdullahi Shuaibu, Benjamin Odey and Henry Ogunyamodi (referees), and Peter Edibi, Abel Baba, Isah Usman, Tope Orowole, Efosa Igudia and Samuel Pwadutakam (assistant referees), will be doing the final quarter exercise for the year.
It would be recalled that Udoh, Shuaibu, Usman, Orowole, Igudia and Pwadutakam were in the delegation of Nigeria referees that traveled to the United Kingdom for a two –week capacity enhancing programme recently.
Sani Zubairu, Secretary of the NFF Referees Committee, said: “The exercise has been very successful, and we are grateful to God that there has been no casualty. We are concluding the programme on Friday with the final quarter exercise of the FIFA –graded referees.”
NFF’s Consultants on Refereeing, Linus Mba (also FIFA Referee Advisor) and Daniel Olojor, former FIFA –graded referees Bolaji Okubule, Olufunmi Olaniyan and Professor Babatunde Asagba, President of Nigeria Referees Association Alhaji Ahmed Maude and Chairman of NFF Referees Committee Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh have been supervising the exercise with a view to ensuring global best practices.
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