Former chairman of the technical committee of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Barrister Chris Green, has raised eyebrows over what he referred to as an unusual and surprising delay by world soccer governing body, FIFA, in taking action against South Africa.
Sports247 reports that Barrister Green’s view comes at a point when tension is rising high regarding South Africa’s use of Teboho Mokoena in their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho in March, when the player should have been suspended due to accumulated yellow cards.
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Although FIFA eventually announced on Tuesday that they had formally opened an investigation over the matter and then sent a query to South Africa Football Association (SAFA), Green posited that the reaction was long overdue
The renowned sports administrator and commissioner from Rivers State declared,
“It’s quite unfortunate. It’s also worrisome and, at the same time, surprising that an issue of this magnitude will happen for a long time, and it was not visited nor resolved on time.
“Knowing what football is all about and this is an ongoing competition, which would affect the very next game, with some psychological effects on all the team’s playing in that particular group.”
The lawyer-turned-sports administrator further noted that the issue should have been sorted long ago, considering that the matter of using an inelligible player for a match is clearly spelt out in the rule book of FIFA
He reiterated, “It’s so strange that things will happen like this. This is something of the kind that you can say shouldn’t have taken more than a few hours to resolve.
“It’s only now that FIFA has come to the realisation that there is an issue that needs to be dealt with. FIFA does not need to be told. They would just go ahead and do the necessary thing in accordance with the stipulated sanctions on that particular offence.”
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