CAF Names Senegalese Ref for Nigeria, Angola clash

The Confederation of African Football has selected Issa Sy, a Senegalese official, as the center referee for the quarter-final match of the Africa Cup of Nations between Nigeria and Angola.

The Super Eagles will play against the Palancas Negras in one of the last eight games of the 34th edition of the AFCON on Friday (today) at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.

The Senegalese referee is familiar to the Angolan players as he officiated their first Group D clash with Algeria in Bouake on January 15.

Sy also officiated the last Group E game between South Africa and Tunisia.

The 39-year-old center referee will be joined by compatriots Djibril Camara and Nouha Bangoura as assistant referees 1 and 2, respectively, along with Mauritanian official Abdel Aziz Bouh as the fourth official. Modibo Samake from Mali will serve as a reserve assistant referee, while Ahmad Nazeer Hossen Bowud from Mauritius and Ali Mohamed Ahmed from Somalia will take on the roles of commissioner and referee assessor, respectively.

The match will be another rare occasion of Nigeria and Angola facing off on the field, with few clashes between both nations at the senior level over the years.

Nigeria overcame Angola to reach the final round of the qualification series for the 1990 World Cup finals (2-2 in Luanda and 1-0 in Lagos). However, the Angolans defeated Nigeria to make their single appearance at the World Cup finals, winning 1-0 in Luanda and holding the Eagles to a 1-1 draw in Kano to secure the head-to-head contest, which was the determining factor for the 2006 World Cup qualification series.

The winner of the encounter will face the winner of the clash between Cape Verde and South Africa in one of the semi-final matches at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake.