Nigeria’s Football Federation (NFF) has filed a petition to world football governing body FIFA to disqualify the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) from competing in the Intercontinental Playoffs that will determine nations to qualify to the 2026 FIFA World Cup according to NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi.
DR Congo beat Nigeria in a penalty shootout to win the African qualifiers for the playoffs in November and will take on the winner of the tie between New Caledonia and Jamaica in March next year to fight for a ticket to the World Cup.
However, according to Sanusi, DR Congo used players who weren’t eligible in their win over Nigeria and added that FIFA had been deceived by the Congolese over the clearance of players who switched nationality to play for the Leopards.
“FIFA cleared the players because FIFA’s eligibility rule is different from DR Congo’s rule. FIFA regulations say that once you have the passport of your country, you are eligible but our contention is that FIFA was deceived into clearing them.”
“It is not the responsibility of FIFA to ensure that the regulations of DR Congo are being abided by. It was on the basis of what was presented to FIFA that the players were cleared but we are saying it was fraudulent” Sanusi said to journalists.
