The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have appointed 42-year old Egyptian, Ghead Grisha as the centre referee for Sunday’s CAF Confederation Cup second leg quarter final clash between Nigerian side Enyimba and their Rwandan opponents Rayon Sports at the Enyimba Stadium in Aba.
Both sides – Enyimba and Rayon Sports – fought out a 0-0 draw in the first leg match decided at the Stade National Nyamirambo in the East African country’s capital in Kigali last Sunday; leaving the tie delicately poised for the decisive leg in the Eastern Nigerian city.
Grisha, an elite FIFA badged referee for the past ten years has been a lucky charm for Nigeria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles, in recent years. Grisha was in charge of two of Nigeria’s qualification games for this year’s FIFA World Cup Russia, both of which were won by the Super Eagles.
On his last visit to Nigeria, Grisha officiated the Super Eagles’ 4-0 victory over Cameroon last September in Uyo, and that was almost a year after he was in charge of Nigeria’s 2-1 victory over Zambia in Ndola.
However, on his last assignment with the People’s Elephant eleven years ago, Grisha was in charge of a slim 1-0 loss for Enyimba against Wydad Casablanca at the Mohammed V Stadium in Morocco in the 2011 CAF Champions League semi-final first leg.
Grisha will be assisted by his foremost assistants Mahmoud Ahmed Abo El Regal and Tahssen Abo El Sadat Bedyer both from Egypt in Sunday’s encounter scheduled for 2pm local time in Nigeria.
An Enyimba top official told www.aclsports.com on Friday morning that the match officials as well as the Match Commissioner from Zambia are expected to arrive Lagos, Nigeria on Friday before their onward movement to the commercial city of Aba.
