Sports247 can report that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has successfully won an appeal it lodged with global soccer governing body, FIFA to drop match officials from Libya who were initially named for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Rwanda, and now awaits a formal announcement on South Africa’s points deduction.
These developments were revealed by NFF’s secretary-general, Dr Muhammed Sanusi, who admitted that, though FIFA’s hammer is most likely to come down on South Africa for fielding an inelligible player in a 2026 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho, all countries in the group are eager to hear an official pronouncement by the global body.
Sanusi cited a previous case against Nigeria, when Shehu Abdullahi played against Algeria and almost caused the country elimination from the race to Russia 2018, as FIFA deducted three points from the Eagles’ total haul, and the scribe also disclosed that the NFF has already written to formally ask for sanctions against South Africa.
The NFF top shot affirmed, “It’s a rule that, once you field an inelligible player, you lose the match by three goals and three points. Because of the fact that the competition is going on and the hype is higher, we have also written to FIFA to say that Nigerians and all teams in that group are anxiously waiting for the feedback.”
Sanusi then parried talk about desperation on the part of the NFF to see South Africa punished, as that would reduce the points haul of Bafana Bafana from 13 to 10 and give Nigeria a chance of overtaking them in the race to Canada/USA/Mexico 2026.
He added, “We know that it’s supposed to be automatic, but we want to know the official situation on the ground. This is also in view of the fact that there is anxiety among all the teams that are in that group.
“So, we expect that FIFA will do the needful without being asked; because it has happened to us, and it has happened to other countries.
“I have not seen FIFA deviating from that norm. It is a fair organisation. You could see that from the fact that, when Libyan referees were appointed to officiate our match here in Nigeria against Rwanda, we wrote to FIFA to lay a complaint.”
The white-bearded long-serving football administrator explained that the issue which escalated when the Super Eagles were stranded and abandoned on arrival for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Libya is still fresh in memory and made it unsafe to have officials from the North African country take charge of Nigeria’s next match of the World Cup race on September 6th in Uyo.
“We cited the problem we had with Libya, and the pain is still there in all of us. So, sending Libyan referees to officiate our match would negate the checks and balances that FIFA is known for.
“We know that any time match officials are being appointed, there is an integrity test that is done. This covers both referees and match commissioners.
“The issues that happened between Nigeria and Libya were too weighty to be ignored. FIFA graciously looked at it and changed the referees.
“So, when you have a genuine case and you put your documents right, FIFA will listen to you. Not to talk about this one, which is a violation of FIFA’s own regulations,” Sanusi submitted.
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