Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has strongly pointed out to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that Edo Queens of Benin City must not be punished for an offence committed by the referee of their match with Ampem Darkoa Ladies of Ghana.
Sports247 reports that this clause is part of the arguments raised by the NFF in their petition to the continent’s football governing body, after it cancelled the match’s result and ordered it to be completed properly.
The NFF’s appeal comes after CAF overturned the 4-1 victory achieved by Edo Queens via penalties in the final of the West African Football Union (WAFU)-B Women’s Champions League qualifiers, following a protest by the Ghanaians.
CAF initially recognised the result after Edo Queens were presented with the trophy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, as WAFU-B champions, but Ampem Darkoa insisted that the competition regulations require the match to proceed into extra time before penalties.
The CAF Committee upheld Ampem Darkoa’s protest, determining that proceeding directly to penalties after regulation time was inconsistent with Article 72.4 of the competition regulations, which requires two 15-minute halves of extra time in a drawn final.
However, the NFF has now sent a formal petition to the CAF Appeals Committee to reverse that verdict, arguing that neither Edo Queens nor Ampem Darkoa was responsible for the failure to play extra time before the penalty shoot-out.
The appeal, which was submitted by NFF’s acting general secretary, Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme, further pointed out that Edo Queens did not request, cause or contribute to the referee skipping extra time, but they simply followed the directives of the appointed match officials.
The NFF’s appeal revealed: “Edo Queens neither elected nor requested that extra time be dispensed with. The fact that Edo Queens ultimately won the shoot-out cannot retrospectively convert its compliance with the referee’s instruction into responsibility for the regulatory breach.
“There is an important distinction between benefiting from an official’s error and causing or procuring the error. It is, therefore, difficult to justify a remedy, which effectively removes the sporting consequence of the penalty shoot-out from Edo Queens where the club was not responsible.”
Sports247 gathered further that the NFF’s appeal also objects to CAF’s boardroom directive detailing the final to resume from a 2-2 scoreline for 30 minutes of extra time, which the match referee overlooked while directing both teams to go into penalties.
Edo Queens won the shootout 4-1 to claim the title and a ticket to the 2026 CAF Women’s Champions League, but the Ghana Football Association (GFA) filed a protest citing Article 72.4 of the tournament regulations, which mandates two 15-minute halves of extra time.
