Senegalese official Issa Sy will be the referee when Nigeria take on Angola in Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final encounter, at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.
Head of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ademola Olajire, stated this on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that Sy will have compatriots Djibril Camara and Nouha Bangoura in as assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively.
Mauritanian official Abdel Aziz Bouh will be the fourth official.
Modibo Samake from Mali will serve as reserve assistant referee, while Ahmad Nazeer Hossen Bowud from Mauritius, and Ali Mohamed Ahmed from Somalia will be in the roles of commissioner and referee assessor respectively.
The match, which will commence at 5pm Cote d’Ivoire time (6pm Nigeria time) will be another of the rare occasions that Nigeria and Angola tango on the turf, with few clashes between both nations at senior level over the years.
Nigeria edged Angola to reach the final round of the qualification series for the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals but the Angolans took their pound of flesh, denying the Super Eagles an appearance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
The winner of Friday’s encounter will square up with the winner of the clash between Cape Verde’s Blue Sharks and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in one of the semi final matches, at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake.