The NFF appealed to the global body for the change
FIFA has approved a new kick-off time of 4pm for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match between the Super Eagles and the visiting Brave Warriors of Namibia, NFF General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu confirmed.
The encounter will take place in Calabar, the capital city of Cross River state, on Sunday.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had approached FIFA with request to bring the match kick-off time forward by one hour, from the earlier agreed time of 5pm. The football global body duly obliged.
This means Sunday’s Day One match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, African series will now start at 4pm at the U. J. Esuene Stadium in the Canaan City.
“Yes, the match will now kick off at 4pm,” Amadu said. “We earlier proposed the time of 5pm but after deep consideration of all the issues involved and especially with certain circumstances that have become manifest, we approached FIFA for a change of time and that has been granted.”
Also, on Tuesday, the NFF confirmed that the referees from Sudan will arrive in Nigeria on Friday aboard an Ethiopia Airlines flight from Addis Ababa.
The Referees Assessor, Sene Badara from Senegal, will arrive Nigeria on Thursday while the Match Commissioner, Bojang Jammeh from The Gambia will be in Nigeria by Wednesday.
Khalid Abdel Rahman will be at the centre, with his compatriots Waleed Ahmed Ali and Mohammed Idam Hamid as 1st and 2nd Assistant Referees respectively.
Another Sudanese, Badr El Din Abdel Gadir, will be the Fourth Official.
