The Confederation of African Football has appointed Egyptian referee Amin Mohamed Omar to officiate the semi-final match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
Omar will be joined by fellow Egyptians; Mahmoud Kamel Abouelregal and Ahmed Hossam Ibrahim as assistant referees, while Sudanese Mahmood Ali Ismail will serve as the fourth official.
Libyan Attia Essa Amsaaed will be the reserve assistant referee, with Yacoub Ali Elmi from Djibouti as commissioner and Aboubacar Doumbouya from Guinea as referee assessor.
Three-time champions Nigeria’s Super Eagles and 1996 champions South Africa face off in their second-ever AFCON semi-final clash on Wednesday at the Stade de la Paix in Bouaké by 6pm Nigeria time.
Their only previous meeting at the same stage, at the National Stadium in Lagos when Nigeria co-hosted the 2000 finals with Ghana, ended 2-0 in favour of Nigeria.
Wednesday’s clash is being billed as the more potentially explosive of the two semi-finals (hosts Ivory Coast are up against the Democratic Republic of Congo), given the pedigree, rivalry and ambition of the two teams.
South Africa has only beaten Nigeria twice in 14 previous meetings at full senior level, though Nigeria edged an African Nations Championship clash by beating the hosts 3-1 in Cape Town in 2014.
The Eagles are presently ranked 42nd in the world by FIFA (6th in Africa) while the Bafana Bafana are 66th in the world (12th in Africa).
Four years ago, both teams met at the quarter-final stage, with the Super Eagles edging the encounter at the Cairo International Stadium 2-1, the goals coming from Samuel Chukwueze and William Ekong. Both players are in the present squad and are likely to be part of Wednesday’s battle.
