peterSENEGALESE referee Ndiaye Maguette remains respected in his home country and is expected at the World Cup next year despite all the controversy that his name has been dragged through in recent times.
Maguette was questionable in his officiating of the World Cup qualifier between The Black Stars and Bafana Bafana last month which prompted Safa to lodge a complaint with FIFA citing that the game was unlawfully manipulated by the match officials.
Safa wanted the officials banned.
The protest has since been dismissed but Safa has indicated that they will still pursue the case.
“In Senegal there has never been any complaints about Ndiaye because he is the number one referee. He handles all the big games locally,” says Senegalese journalist Salif Diallo.
Even when Fifa issued that statement to clear their official. I spoke to the referee head, and he pointed at the Fifa statement to highlight that this matter has been put to rest.
“We now expect Ndiaye at the Afcon as well as the World Cup next year since he is the number one referee here in Senegal amongst many top referees.
You must understand that here in Senegal we have a lot of referees and for you to be ranked as a top referee means you are doing a lot of good.
“With regards to handling games in our league he mostly officiates games around Dakar since the following day he must be at school since he is a teacher,” says Diallo.
Since the controversy, Maguette has not had any Caf appointments and has only handled two games in the Senegalese Ligue 1.
Maguette is amongst the six-candidate referees from the continent for next year’s World Cup and regularly officiates Caf competitions and oversaw last year’s af Super Cup.
He has handled 10 international matches this year and has also officiated at the Fifa Club World Cup and Fifa Under-20 World Cup.
He is the son of former referee Pape Moussa Ndiaye and is employed as a physical education teacher at Maurice Delafosse Public Secondary School near the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. — Kickoff.
Online Reporter