While dust is yet to settle on the issue of extra time and penalties shootout involving Edo Queens of Benin City in the CAF Women’s Champions League qualifiers, a similar case has erupted with Nigeria’s beach soccer national team, Super Sand Eagles.
Sports247 reports that Edo Queens have already lodged a complaint to Confederation of African Football (CAF), after the body ordered 30 minutes of extra time to be played before the club can claim victory during the final of the qualifiers in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso.
The referee ordered the game straight into penalties, which Edo Queens won, only for their opponents, Ampem Darkoa Ladies of Ghana to lodge a protest that the game should have gone into extra time before any shootout occurs if the scoreline still remains level.
However, a dramatic ripple effect ensued in Kaduna on Saturday, as the referee of Nigeria’s Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Ghana apparently forgot that there is still a second leg to be played next weekend, as he first ordered extra time and then penalties after the game ended 3-3 at regulation time.
Adding more drama and controversy to yet another mix-up regarding extra time or not between the same countries in a space of just one month, the Moroccan centre referee of Saturday’s match at Murtala Mohammed Square in the Kaduna State capital reportedly admitted his error later in the day.
A report by the media department of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) revealed, “Moroccan referee, Driss Lamghaidar and his officiating team has admitted their error in allowing for extra time and penalties in Saturday’s 2026 CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between Nigeria and Ghana in Kaduna.
“Dignitaries and spectators in the stands were befuddled when Lamghaidar and his assistants ordered for extra time, and later on penalties, in the first leg encounter that had ended 3-3 in regulation time.
“At a meeting on Saturday night, Lamghaidar admitted he had erred in taking the game to extra time and subsequently penalties, as it was only a first-leg encounter, with the second leg and decider to come on Sunday, 18th October in Keta, Ghana.
“The Nigeria Football Federation had swung into action immediately after the match to demand an explanation for the extra time and penalties, which is an anomaly for a two-match fixture in which only the first leg had been played.”
Sports247 reports further, though, that the statement did not reveal the next line of action regarding the referee’s admitted error – if Nigeria’s 5-4 loss in the penalty shoot-out will be cancelled or if the result stands heading into the reverse fixture.
