Super Eagles and Croatia players

Brazilian referee, Sandro Ricci, will alongside two compatriots and two Spaniards, handle Nigeria’s opening Group D game against Croatia at Kaliningrad on Saturday in World Cup in Russia.

Ricci will have Emerson de Carvalho as his First Assistant Referee (AR1) and Marcelo van Gasse as Second Assistant Referee (AR2), both Brazilians.

Antonio Mateu and Pao Cebrian, both Spaniards, will be the Fourth Official and Reserve Assistant Referee (RAR), respectively.

The Nigeria-Croatia match is one of four matches slated for Saturday at the World Cup which got underway on Thursday, with Argentina facing Croatia in the other Group D match.

Five African referees have also been listed for Saturday’s Group C game between Peru and Denmark at Saransk, with Gambia’s Papa Gassama as the centre referee.

His assistants are Jean-Claude Birumushanu from Burundi and Abdelhak Etchiali of Algeria as AR1 and AR2, respectively.

Mehdi Abid Charef of Algeria and Amouar Hmila of Tunisia are the Fourth Official and RAR.

Four other African referees were named in the five-man officiating team for Sunday’s Group E match between Costa Rica and Serbia at Samara.

While Senegalese referee, Malang Diedhiou, will be at the centre, his compatriots Djibril Camara and El-Hadji Samba will be the AR1 and AR2.

Ethiopia’s Bamlaku Weyesa will be the Fourth Oficial and Russia’s Tikhon Kalugin completing the team.