Nigeria’s Qassim Abdulsallam has been selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as one of the centre referees expected to officiate at the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
CHAN is a biennial continental tournament meant solely for African players plying their trade in their countries’ various local national leagues.
Abdulsallam is the only Nigerian referee listed in the 65-man roster of officials released by CAF on its website on Friday.
The tournament, the eighth in the series, is scheduled to hold in three countries: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, from February 1 to 28.
This would be the first edition co-hosted by three countries.
According to the statement on the CAF official website, Abdulsallam will join 25 other centre referees officiating at the championship.
The list also has 25 assistant referees and 14 Video Assistant Referees (VAR) officials for the tournament.
Abdulsallam distinguished himself in the second leg of the CHAN qualifier between Niger and Cote d’ivoire at the Bamako Stade, 26 Mars, on Saturday.
The Zamfara State Referees’ Council member, was among the referees who went to the CHAN course preparations exercise in Cairo in late 2024.
Abdulsallam was also on the list of match officials invited for the WAFU U-20 qualifiers held earlier in Togo.
The Super Eagles B team qualified for the 2024 CHAN.
Interestingly, this latest feat is coming six years after the Super Eagles last appeared at the biennial continental tournament.
Nigeria thrashed Ghana 3-1 in a second-leg final qualifying fixture at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Saturday, after playing out a goalless draw in the first leg in Ghana a week earlier, to book a berth to the eighth edition of the championship.
