A shock decision by the appeals committee of Confederation of African Football (CAF) to strip Senegal of this year’s continental title and award it to Morocco has given Nigerian officials renewed hope that they will also get victory in their case against DR Congo.
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Sports247 gathered that, while many observers are already sceptical of Nigeria getting victory in world football governing body, FIFA’s boardroom, the country’s officials think otherwise and their expectations were boosted by CAF’s verdict on Tuesday night.
As fate would have it, CAF’s decision to uphold Morocco’s appeal in their matter with Senegal became public few hours after the secretary-general of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr Mohammed Sanusi admitted that FIFA had rejected the body’s petition against DR Congo.
Dramatically, Sanusi added in his statement regarding FIFA’s decision that the NFF had already started the process of an appeal against the global body’s verdict; so that the Super Eagles will replace DRC’s Leopards in this month’s World Cup intercontinental play-off.
At that point, Sanusi’s statement appeared like an exercise in futility, but another top official later declared emphatically in a chat with Sports247 that Nigeria too could win its appeal at FIFA the same way Morocco won theirs in the CAF boardroom.
While speaking on condition of anonymity, an official went on to provide a hint that NFF’s appeal has been lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), with a view towards getting a neutral view outside football’s restricted regulations.
The official said, “Whoever thought that CAF would reverse the result of the Nations Cup final for the first time ever, especially almost three months after it had been played?
“In the same way, CAS will also look at Nigeria’s petition against DR Congo and give us the verdict that FIFA did not look at, simply because they said our protest came late.”
Sports247 gathered that FIFA’s officials truly did not sit over NFF’s protest due to the late submission of their case, and they did not attach a protest fee; which caused the matter to be ‘rejected on procedural grounds.’
The NFF are now hoping that their appeal will be considered on the weight of information, facts and evidence they believe confirm that DR Congo actually used fraudulent documents to get clearances for the nationality switch of the players under focus.
However, while NFF are keeping hope alive that they will get a favourable verdict from their appeal at CAS, many Nigerians still doubt the ability of the football officials to put together a timely and watertight document that could help them win in the boardroom like Morocco did.
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