Tade Azeez, the President of Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), on Thursday said the association would soon have replacements for Nigeria’s Peter Edibi on the international scene after his retirement.
Azeez told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that many referees were already undergoing training to replace the international referee with his retirement approaching.
“We have many other referees undergoing training to do better than Edibi. The issue of Edibi getting there is not a day thing.
“He rose from grass to grace to get to where he is now and we know we can work on others to achieve much more than what Edibi achieved.
“So, very soon, we will have replacements for him at the international scene,’’ the NRA president said.
NAN reports that Edibi, who became international since 2004, is the most successful Nigerian referee after officiating in a series of continental and global tournaments – mostly as an assistant referee.
Born on Jan. 5, 1970, he would be retiring in December after attaining 45 years of age.
The referees’ boss, however, noted that though Edibi would stop officiating, he would still be useful in training other Nigerian referees to be better than him.
He said the Ikom-born referee still had a lot to offer the Nigerian referee family.
“For him, he has a lot to give in; to whom much is given, much is expected. He was raised and built by some people, so he has a lot to do in also bringing up a lot of referees.
“He has a place in our Training and Assessment Group; he has a place in our list of Referees’ Assessors Group, and also one of our resource persons in the technical part of refereeing.
“So, while we are training our referees, he has to bring his knowledge and experience to bear and impart it onto other.
“Edibe has a lot to offer us. We might not see him carrying the flag around again, but I can assure you he has so much to offer us,” Azeez said.
NAN reports that Edibi, who is one of the 28 Nigerian FIFA referees, became a referee at the age of 13.
He got his Grade Three Referees Certificate at age 17; the Grade Two in 1989 at age 19, and the Grade One certificate three years later at the age of 22.
It was the latter Grade One certificate that qualified him to officiate in the Nigerian domestic league.
His performance earned him a Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) nomination and enlisting as a FIFA graded assistant referee in 2004.
Edibi began his journey to the top when he was selected to run the lines at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ghana.
He was subsequently picked for the 2010 edition in Angola and the 2012 finals co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, as well as the 2013 tournament hosted by South Africa, which Nigeria won.
He was one of the match officials at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey and Morocco 2013 FIFA Club World Cup.
He also made it to AFCON 2015 in Equatorial Guinea but would have reached the peak of his career in 2014 if he was picked for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
But his name was omitted at the last stage of the screening for FIFA to pick centre referees from Cote D’Ivoire (two), Gambia (two), South Africa (one), Cameroon (one) and Algeria (one).
The world governing body also selected one assistant referee each from Burundi, Cote D’Ivoire, Algeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Rwanda, Morocco and Kenya
