Three-time Africa Referee of the Year, Papa Bakary Gassama, will officiate the second semi-final at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations between Algeria and Nigeria on Sunday.
The 40-year-old Gambian referee, who officiated the Group A match between Mexico and New Zealand in the last FIFA World Cup, will be in Cairo, having not been a stranger to Nigeria games.
He was in charge of the Super Eagles’ Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers away to South Africa in Johannesburg.
In that game, Nigeria was allegedly denied two well-taken goals but the 1-1 scoreline at the end of that match was enough to seal the Eagles’ qualification for AFCON 2019 even with a game to spare.
This will be the second match as a centre referee in 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, having been in charge of Nigeria’s group decider with the tournament’s surprise packages Madagascar in Alexandria.
Gassama became a FIFA referee in 2007 and has over the last ten years proved to be one of the foremost referees in world football.
After refereeing in the 2012 Olympics in London, where he was the fourth official in the Gold Cup Match between eventual winners Mexico and Brazil, the Gambian officiated the Netherlands-Chile clash at the group phase of the 2014 World Cup.
He also refereed the 2014 CAF the second leg of the Champions League final as well as games in the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Gassama has now participated in his fifth consecutive African Cup of Nations finals in 2010.
