Mazi Linus Mbah: Celebrating A Living Legend As He Prepares To Mark Another Birthday
Photo: Mazi Linus Mba (middle) and wife Theresa and son Linus (Jr) at the Sportsville award in Lagos last year.
Sunday 8 March 2026 has become particularly a Special Day for MAZI LINUS MBA.
The day is remarkable for many reasons: he is the first in his biological extended family to get to the late 80s. He is from Neke in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area (old Nsukka) in Enugu State.
Secondly, in the Nigerian refereeing circle he is still the oldest living legend President of the Nigeria Football Referees Association ( NRA).
Mazi Linus Mba had made a widely acclaimed impact because he got involved in the Refereeing Administration in Nigeria from 1985 after his return to his Country Nigeria from the United Kingdom in 1978 when he was appointed by Referees as the NRA Public Relations Officer (PRO).
The major impact and legacy he left as the PRO was the establishment of the NRA Referees Magazine for the purpose of exposing to the Nigerian public from 1987 the business and intricacies in football refereeing.
The level of efficiency Mazi Linus Mba exhibited in the office propelled NRA Members to elevate him to a higher position; the NRA Association’s Secretary General in 1989 and eventually the Association’s President in 1992.
Air Commodore Anthony Emeka Omeruah was highly impressed by the exciting vibrancy Mazi Linus Mba had been displaying in the Referees Committee, and selected him among the NFA delegation to the USA 1994 World Cup as well as appointing him as a Member of the NFA Representatives that year.
The first strategy of Mazi Linus Mba on assuming office as Referees Committee Chairman in 1992 was to revolutionize the quality of recruitment into refereeing.
Only those with sound secondary school education were considered to possess the minimum level of background as against what prevailed in the past that opened up the flooding of refereeing with primary school leavers with surely natural limitations.
As a result, in no time, the refereeing crew was flooded with university graduates; men and women, some of whom literally turned first class technical instructors and physical fitness trainers.
Mazi Linus Mba did not stop there, he introduced the Referee Assessors’ Scheme for qualitative and accurate assessment of officiating referees.
As destiny would have it, CAF appointed Mazi Linus Mba as a Member of its Referees Committee and the flow from the international scene including his experience as FIFA Technical Adviser on Refereeing for Africa fortified Mazi Mba’s experiences for the benefit of Nigerian refereeing.
Mazi Mba’s later experiences, one must acknowledge, kicked off from his initial training by the London Football Association (1973 – 1976) during his academic sojourn in the United Kingdom.
One sports organization that has been monitoring Mazi Mba’s contributions over the years decided to honour him in 2025 as one of the six ICONS worthy of the Sportsville
organization’s honour.
It is worthy of note that Mazi Linus Mba had continued to be an inspiration to the Nigerian refereeing that the NFF retained his services as the Consultant on Refereeing for twenty years up to 2023.
But Mazi Linus Mba did not stop there. In 2024, he established and personally funded a quarterly publication named the ‘WHISTLE MAGAZINE’ which circulated to all Referees Committees of each African Federation as well as to the CAF and FIFA headquarters.
The quality of the magazine was very well appreciated covering refereeing of all African Football Federations as well as exposing developments in the technicalities of football refereeing from CAF and FIFA.
Mazi Linus Mba was medically stopped from further publications of the magazines in 2024 because the doctors warned that he was dangerously overworking his brain at that age.
Now that Mazi Linus Mba has nothing to keep busy, he is appealing to everyone to continue to always pray for him.
