How NFF mistake almost cost Nigeria World Cup place

Fifa almost disqualify Nigeria from World cup after NFF mistake, forfeits 1-1 draw with Algeria.

Super Eagles of Nigeria in action during a World cup qualifier

Super Eagles of Nigeria have been sanctioned by the World Football governing body Fifa for fielding an ineligible player during the last qualifying match away at Algeria.

The match originally ended in a 1-1 draw but that has now changed to a 3-0 win in favour of Algeria after a decision by Fifa to forfeit the match.

Fortunately, Nigeria booked their place at the World cup before the last game so the sanction does not affect the qualification, the Super Eagles still finish as Group B winners but with 13 points instead of 14 while Algeria with 4 points instead of 2 points finished at the bottom.

Shehu Abdullahi was the ineligible player, the Cyprus based right-back played the whole match against Algeria even though he was suspended for picking up yellow cards in two previous qualifiers.

This could have been a costly mistake for the NFF, Nigerians would have been livid if their beloved team missed out due to the officials' incompetence.

See the official Fifa statement below:

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the match between Algeria and Nigeria on 10 November 2017. The match is declared to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favour of Algeria, with the NFF also receiving a fine of CHF 6,000. The sanction relates to the player Abdullahi Shehu failing to serve the automatic one-match suspension imposed on him as a result of receiving a caution in two separate matches of the same competition. This sanction bears no impact on the final result of the preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup since Nigeria had already qualified (and Algeria eliminated) before the match took place.

The chairman of the Federation, Amanju Pinnick, has taken responsibility for the error by posting a series of tweets explaining what happened.



He claimed that the officials assumed cards during the preliminary rounds would not count in the group stages as Shehu Abdullahi was booked during the preliminary round against Swaziland and throughout the campaign official match documents did not show that the defender was on a yellow.









It's unbelievable that Fifa would not alert a federation about a suspended player prior to a match, well Mr Pinnick defended this, he claimed that Fifa truly sent an email to the technical officer in charge, that Shehu Abdullahi was suspended for the Algeria Match but that officer was in the hospital battling for his life with a severe heart condition.




This is still not acceptable Mr Chairman when a superior is not available, others in the department should have access to his official email or his emails be forwarded to another email where other officials can have access.



Gladly, Nigeria is still going to the World Cup which is the most important thing. Trusting the current NFF officials after this is another case.



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