NFF Issues Stern Warning to Referees Over Poor Officiating Across Nigerian Football

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has issued a strong warning to referees across the domestic football leagues, citing widespread concerns over poor officiating. The announcement came following the NFF Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, held at the NFF Secretariat in Abuja.

The board revealed that a recent assessment of match officials’ performances across all domestic leagues—including the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League (NNL), Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), and Nationwide League One—showed disappointing results for a significant number of referees.

In a statement, the NFF expressed its frustration, emphasizing that decisive actions would be taken to curb the growing menace of substandard officiating.

” We’re really disappointed with the performance of some of our referees in all the league matches and sterner measures are on the way to curb the incidence of poor officiating.
“Incompetence, collusion with club officials and bare-faced manipulation of matches to favour certain teams and interests must be put to a stop and we’re out to fight it”, said the statement.