The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has appointed Faith Irabor as head of the Nigerian FA’s referee committee, making her the first woman to serve in that role.
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This inauguration took place in Abuja on the Sunday before the resumption of the 2022/23 Nigerian Professional Football League.
The referee committee is mandated by the NFF to deal with refereeing and other matters related to refereeing at Nigerian domestic competitions, with the appointment taking immediate effect for a period of two years, from 2023 to 2025.
Prior to her appointment, Irabor is a retired FIFA referee, former CAF Referee Instructor, 1st Vice President of the Nigerian Referees Association since 2019 and also previously served as Director of Sports for the Edo State Ministry of Sports. .
On her historic appointment as the first woman to head the referee committee, Irabor told reporters: “I am excited because it is an opportunity to contribute my experience, since I have been on the field for years, as a retired FIFA referee and a former CAF instructor until five years ago.
“I am on very familiar ground. So for Nigeria, it is a huge task and the president has promised to give us a level playing field and we will do everything we can to change the narratives.
“As a woman, I always enjoyed historic achievements when FIFA first chose referees in 1995, I was one of them. For the first time I was among the first eight CAF instructors as, that is technical, and the first woman.
“In our Nigerian Umpires Association, I am also the first woman to serve as First Vice President. It is as if I operated more in the world of men. So, it’s not new to me. I’m used to it. I have been in the league with men and I was once the best referee of the year.
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