No few than 50 Referees and Assistant Referees have assembled in Rabat, Morocco, for the second in the series of preparatory programmes towards the Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2019, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

Twenty-seven (27) Referees and 29 Assistant Referees representing 33 Member Associations are in the Moroccan capital for the course scheduled for 28 April to 5 May 2019 under the supervision of CAF Refereeing Manager, Eddy Maillet, with the support of experienced CAF Instructors.

The referees have been undergoing intensive theoretical and practical sessions aimed at fine-tuning their readiness for the tournament scheduled for 21 June to 19 July in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria, Cairo, Ismailia and Suez.

“This course is important towards the road to Egypt for the referees, who are key actors in decision making process during games. We held the first training workshop between 26 March and 1 April 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa and the focus was on Video Assistant Referees (VAR) system which will be used at the AFCON to help in the decision making process.

“We will also discuss thoroughly the amendments to the Laws of the Game, which takes effect 1 Jun 2019, and will be implemented during the tournament,” Maillet told CAFOnline.com.

Following this course, the final list of referees for the Total AFCON Egypt 2019 will be decided after a critical analysis of the results and performance of the match officials.

The final lap in the training programme will be a course in early June in Cairo, Egypt, few days to the commencement of the final tournament.

No Nigeria referee is shortlisted for the AFCON duty.