Beach Soccer: Referees admit mistake and say match between Nigeria and Ghana ended 3-3

Moroccan referee Driss Lambhaidar and his refereeing team admitted their mistake in allowing extra time and penalties in Saturday’s CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations 2026 qualifier between Nigeria and Ghana in Kaduna.

Dignitaries and spectators in the stands were bewildered when Lamghaidar and his assistants ordered extra time, and later penalties, in the first leg that had ended 3-3 in regulation time.

In a meeting on Saturday night, Lambhaidar admitted that he had made a mistake in taking the match to extra time and then penalties as it was only a first leg match, while the second leg and the decider would be played on Sunday, October 18 in Keta, Ghana.

This means that the match is still delicate and both teams now have to play everything in the second leg.

Isa Hamza Manga scored a hat-trick for Nigeria, while Mawuli Sosu scored twice and Wise Nyamadi once for the Black Sharks.

The Nigerian Football Federation intervened immediately after the match to demand an explanation for the extra time and penalties, which is an anomaly in a two-legged match in which only the first leg was played.

the chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko; NFF Acting Secretary General, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme; Kaduna State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Hon. Ben Kure; Special Assistants to NSC Chairman Barr. Musa Amadu and Clement Nwankpa; the Acting Deputy Secretary General of the NFF, Dr. Ademola Olajire and; The NSC Chairman’s Personal Assistant, Alhaji Ahmad Muazu, was among senior officials of the NSC, Kaduna State Government and the NFF who witnessed the match at the Murtala Muhammed Square Beach Soccer Field.