{"id":55122,"date":"2026-02-23T19:27:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:25:29","slug":"caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","title":{"rendered":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. <\/strong> <\/span>Fresh changes appear to be brewing within the corridors of African football governance as the Confederation of African Football reportedly prepares to relieve Olivier Safari Kabeni of his duties as President of the Referees Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Sources close to the situation suggest that CAF is considering appointing a new head to oversee the continent\u2019s refereeing affairs, a move that could signal a broader restructuring of how officiating is managed across competitions. While no official statement has yet been released, the reported decision points to dissatisfaction or a desire for renewed direction within one of the federation\u2019s most scrutinized departments.<\/p>\n<p>The Referees Committee plays a critical role in shaping standards, appointments and disciplinary processes for match officials in CAF tournaments, including flagship events such as the Africa Cup of Nations and interclub competitions. Any leadership change at that level is likely to have ripple effects, particularly at a time when officiating standards across African football continue to draw intense debate from clubs, players and supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Should the move be confirmed, it would mark a significant shift in CAF\u2019s refereeing structure, potentially ushering in reforms aimed at strengthening transparency, consistency and performance evaluation. For now, attention turns to CAF\u2019s executive leadership and whether a formal announcement will clarify the future direction of refereeing on the continent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Eritrea<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brewing within the corridors of African football governance as the Confederation of African Football reportedly prepares to relieve Olivier Safari Kabeni of his duties as President of the Referees Committee. Sources close to the situation suggest that CAF is considering appointing a new head to oversee the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-55122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"747\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\"},\"wordCount\":240,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\",\"name\":\"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits - Eritrea\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg\",\"width\":747,\"height\":410,\"caption\":\"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\",\"name\":\"Eritrea\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits - Eritrea","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","og_site_name":"Eritrea","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":747,"height":410,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits","datePublished":"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits"},"wordCount":240,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg","keywords":["Eritrea"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits","name":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits - Eritrea","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-23T19:27:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:25:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Eritrea. Fresh changes appear to be brew ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/02\/sm_1771878154.669666.jpg","width":747,"height":410,"caption":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/caf-plans-major-referee-changes-as-kabeni-exits#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CAF Plans Major Referee Changes as Kabeni Exits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/","name":"Eritrea","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}