The Confederation of African Football has confirmed the full list of referees and VAR officials for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco without featuring any Nigerian.

CAF revealed that 28 centre referees and 14 VAR specialists will handle matches throughout the tournament. Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania each have two centre referees included.

Among those selected for VAR duties are Algeria’s Lahlou Benbraham, Egypt’s Mahmoud Ashour, Tunisia’s Haythem Guirat, Morocco’s Hamza El Fariq and Senegal’s Djibril Camara.

AFCON 2025 will run from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, with hosts Morocco set to face Comoros in the opening fixture in Rabat on Sunday, 21 December.

Away from refereeing matters, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed an appeal lodged by the Guinean Football Federation, which attempted to overturn Tanzania’s qualification for the tournament.

The case arose from a qualifier played on 19 November 2024, where Tanzania claimed a 1-0 victory. Guinea insisted the match should be awarded to them by a 3-0 margin, arguing that Tanzania had fielded a player wearing the wrong shirt number and that this created an unfair tactical advantage.

CAS ruled that the mistake was purely administrative and did not influence the match. The decision backed CAF’s earlier position which had dismissed Guinea’s request to replace Tanzania at the finals.

Tanzania remain in Group C, where they will meet Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles and Uganda’s Cranes. Their first match is against Nigeria in Fez on Tuesday, 23 December.

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