Four South Sudanese selected to officiate in African Champion’s League

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has selected four South Sudanese referees to officiate at the upcoming 2015 African Championship League matches scheduled to start next month.

The selected are Oting Guy and George Olibo from the Torit Football Association, Gasim Abdallah from the Juba Association and Kalisto Samson from the Wau Football Association.

Deputy chairman of the national Football Federation Andrea Abdalla and chairperson of the referees association, Marco Ladu, have been selected to be observers at the tournament.

Locally, in Yambio, Western Equatoria state, Yambio Stars FC beat Nile City one-nil in the ongoing George Coasta Football Tournament. In the same competition, Cobra FC secured three points after a 2-1 victory over Villa United at Budway Stadium.

Meanwhile, Bilpam FC will meet Ekwa in a Division Two qualifier game. At the same time, the Yambio Youth Football Tournament will kick off on Thursday evening. Six clubs will compete in the 2-week division one tournament that ends on the 13th of February.

All games will be played at the Yambio Freedom Square. Wahada FC will take on Yambio Stars in the opening match.

Meanwhile, the Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Equitorial Guinea has reached the quarter final stage, which starts on Saturday 31st January.

The Confederation of African Football promises that the stadiums will be "packed" for the remaining games, even if the home team has been knocked out.

CAF spokesman Junior Binyam said he had "no doubt" the crowds would be good for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final of the continental championship, which has struggled with attendances at previous editions.

"Even if the host country is not part of the competition, we will have stadiums full (and) packed," Binyam said. "We don't have any fear as far as that aspect is concerned."

CAF's guarantee comes with it buoyed by generally good crowds so far, although the first game day at the main Bata Stadium not involving Equatorial Guinea's team had just a tiny group of fans for a group match involving Tunisia and Congo this week.