How NFF Discovered Ineligible Players in DR Congo Team Against Super Eagles in Play-Off
- The Nigeria Football Federation has officially lodged a protest to FIFA, demanding sanctions against DR Congo
- Both teams clashed in the World Cup qualifying play-offs, but the Leopards won after an intense penalty shootout
- With Nigeria's World Cup hopes dashed, NFF officials are alleging that some DR Congo players were ineligible to play that game
Shehu Dikko has opened up on how the Nigeria Football Federation found out that some players in the DR Congo team that defeated the Super Eagles in the World Cup qualifiers play-off could be ineligible.
The National Sports Commission chairman stated that authorities had discovered that some players who had played for the Leopards had yet to complete their nationality switch, according to the BBC.
DR Congo defeated Nigeria via penalties in the World Cup qualifying play-off, to book their place in the inter-continental play-offs slated for March next year.
Source: Getty Images
However, the NFF has lodged a complaint to the world's football governing body, claiming some players in the DR Congo squad were ineligible to play in the CAF play-offs in Morocco in November.
The country's constitution stipulates that no citizen must have dual nationality, but Nigerian officials allege that some of the players did not renounce their other citizenship.
Consequently, Nigeria has sent an official letter to FIFA, demanding a forfeiture and that the match is awarded to the Super Eagles, for a chance to be at the inter-continental play-off.
Confirming the development on Arise TV, Dikko said:
"So, when we saw the squad that was put in place for the play-offs, the squad was named on November 1 and the play-offs were on November 13, we looked at the squad of our opponents.
"We found out from the beginning that even the Congolese had already named players of other nationalities who had not been cleared by FIFA in their squad.
"That was an alarm, so everybody started monitoring, even though the players were not being played.
"This issue did not start because we lost the play-offs. We had been watching what they were doing, and then we found out a day before the qualifiers that they were getting clearances so that the players were qualified to play.
"But if you look back, what gave them the confidence to name a player of another nationality in their squad to play a match two weeks later, when he wasn’t qualified to play for them until the day before the match they received permission? That raised alarm for us after the qualifiers."
The former vice-president of the NFF further assured Nigerians that the NFF is confident of the outcome from FIFA, reiterating that there was a breach of the DR Congo constitution.
"We look at the legal opinion, we look at the laws, and we found out there is some suspicion that some things have not been done right according to the laws of the game."
Source: Getty Images
FIFA sanctions Malaysia
Legit.ng earlier reported that FIFA has sanctioned Malaysia heavily for presenting forged documents for foreign-born players, who featured for the Asian country in 2025.
The world football governing body has been cracking down on fraudulent attempts by countries to nationalise players of foreign nationalities.
Source: Legit.ng
