The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has named Amin Omar from Egypt as the referee for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations semi-final match between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana on Wednesday. The announcement was made by Ademola Olajire, the Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), through a press release.
Joining Omar on the officiating team are his fellow Egyptians Mahmoud Abouelregal and Ahmed Ibrahim as the first and second assistant referees, respectively, while Mahmood Ismail from Sudan will act as the fourth official.
Additionally, the team will include Attia Amsaaed from Libya as the reserve assistant referee, Yacoub Elmi from Djibouti as the match commissioner, and Aboubacar Doumbouya from Guinea who will serve as the referee assessor.
Olajire also highlighted the historical context of the match, noting that Nigeria, who have won the championship three times, and South Africa, the 1996 champions, will be meeting in their second Africa Cup of Nations semi-final. Their previous encounter at this stage was in Lagos during the 2000 finals, co-hosted with Ghana, which saw Nigeria winning 2-0.
He described Wednesday’s game as highly anticipated, suggesting it could be the more thrilling semi-final of the tournament, with host nation Cote d’Ivoire facing the Democratic Republic of Congo. He emphasized the strong rivalry and ambitions of the teams involved.
Historically, South Africa has managed only two wins against Nigeria in their 14 encounters at the senior level. However, Nigeria secured a victory over South Africa during the African Nations Championship in Cape Town in 2014 with a 3-1 score. In their last meeting during the 2019 quarter-finals, Nigeria triumphed over South Africa with a 2-1 victory at the Cairo International Stadium, thanks to goals from Samuel Chukwueze and William Ekong, who are both expected to play in the upcoming match.