Mikel, Ekong, Shehu Won't Be Happy With Fifa's Decision To Appoint Controversial Brazilian Ref

Published: June 15, 2018

Fifa has appointed Brazilian official Sandro Ricci as referee for Nigeria's World Cup opener against Croatia at the Kaliningrad Stadium on Saturday evening.

The 43-year-old will be assisted by compatriots Emerson de Carvalho (Assistant Referee 1) and Marcelo Van Gasse (Assistant Referee 2), while Spaniards Antonio Mateu Lahoz and Pau Cebrián Devís are the fourth and fifth officials respectively.

On Thursday, Ricci participated in the opening match in Russia's 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia as fourth official.

He has a degree in Economics and has worked for the Getulio Vargas Foundation, the University of Brasilia, Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Ricci is controversial for issuing two yellow cards to the same player, Kássio, but forgot to send him off during a Brazilian Campeonato Candango match between Brasiliense and Formosa in 2011.

In another controversy involving the Brazilian referee, he dismissed Uruguay star Edinson Cavani in the 2015 Copa América despite Chile defender Gonzalo Jara inserting a finger....

A year later, Ricci took 13 minutes before he made a decision to cancel the goal scored by Fluminense in the derby against Flamengo.

The last time he officiated a game involving Nigeria was at the 2016 Olympic Games against Denmark, a match in which he handed out yellow cards to four Dream Team VI stars John Obi Mikel, Sincere Seth, Azubuike Okechukwu and Usman Mohammed and none to the Scandinavians.

Abdullahi Shehu, William Troost-Ekong and Daniel Akpeyi were also named in Nigeria's match day squad for that game against Denmark two years ago.

At the 2013 Fifa U20 World Cup, Nigeria's first-choice right back Shehu, Moses Orkuma and Agboyi were shown yellow cards by Ricci.

Ricci speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian and his hobbies are reading, watching movies and running.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel