Eradicated on the sector by the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the African playoffs, Nigeria filed a criticism with FIFA towards their rival for allegedly utilizing athletes underneath irregular circumstances through the Qualifiers.
A doable punishment may safe the presence of the Tremendous Eagles within the ultimate of the world playoff towards New Caledonia or Jamaica, vying for a spot within the 2026 World Cup.
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The Nigerian Soccer Federation (NFF) questions the eligibility of some athletes who have been born in European nations however adopted the nationality of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to symbolize the nation in official tournaments.
In keeping with the Nigerian criticism, between six and 9 athletes didn’t full the method of renouncing their European passports, which is a requirement of Congolese legislation, earlier than with the ability to symbolize the nation.
“Congo’s guidelines state that twin nationality will not be allowed. There are a lot of gamers with European passports, some French, others Dutch. The foundations are very clear. We will not say a lot now, however we have now already submitted our protest to FIFA,” mentioned Mohammed Sanusi, the secretary-general of the NFF.
In Nigeria’s view, the very best soccer authority was misled into permitting the presence of athletes supposedly ineligible to play:
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“FIFA’s guidelines are totally different from these of the DR Congo, which is why FIFA cleared them. FIFA’s rules state that after getting your nation’s passport, you’re eligible. For FIFA, they’re eligible, and that is why they have been cleared.”
Nigeria has already benefited from a punishment within the group stage of the Qualifiers after South Africa misplaced three factors because of the inclusion of Teboho Mokoena, who ought to have served a suspension, towards Lesotho.
This punishment gave the group of Osimhen & Co. actual possibilities of direct qualification to the World Cup with two rounds remaining – they have been just about eradicated.
The spot went to South Africa itself, however Nigeria secured the most effective second locations and defeated Gabon earlier than going through the Leopards for Africa’s spot on this planet playoff.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo seeks to compete in solely the second World Cup in its historical past.
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It was solely current in 1974 when it was nonetheless referred to as Zaire, and it fell into Brazil’s group. They misplaced all three video games with out scoring any objectives.
Nigeria, alternatively, has participated within the World Cup six instances, advancing to the spherical of 16 in 1994, 1998, and 2014. They final participated in 2018, in Russia.
Images: Soccer Federation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.