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The Nigeria Football Referees’ Association, NFRA, has condemned in strong terms the assault suffered by referees handling one of the semi-finals of the 2026 President’s Federation Cup at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, Edo State, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
At the end of the match involving Nassarawa United of Lafia and Ikorodu United of Lagos, Nassarawa United players and team officials reportedly attacked the referees.
According to reports available to the NFRA, at the end of the final whistle of the penalty shootout, as the match officials proceeded towards the tunnel, two players from Nasarawa United FC, (names not disclosed)
and one of Nasarawa United FC’s appointed medical officials (name withheld) allegedly assaulted and aggressively confronted the match officials.
Eyewitnesses also say that during the incident, the Nasarawa United FC players and official physically assaulted the Fourth Official, causing him personal injury, and also damaged the Fourth Official’s communication device, stopwatch and his official match uniform. Very disgusting was that during the fight the referee’s uniform was also torn and destroyed.
The acting president of the NFRA, sir. Kelechi Mejuobi, seriously disapproving of the continuing cases of attacks on referees in match stadiums, calls on the authorities to develop measures to curb these anomalies by punishing those concerned accordingly.
In light of the above, the association has asked referees appointed for matches to henceforth ensure that the required number of security personnel at match venues during pre-match are provided before the start of matches. In cases where the required security is absent or insufficient, the referees concerned must immediately report to the State FA, the NFF Referees Committee and the NFRA.
The NFRA seeks support from stakeholders for the safety of referees at match venues as the refereeing body may consider avoiding venues where referees are attacked and not be able to handle matches involving teams engaged in assaulting referees.
Electronically signed,
CHUKWUDI EJIMOFOR, NATIONAL PUBLICITY SECRETARY (NPS) NIGERIA FOOTBALL REFEREES ASSOCIATION (NFRA)
