FIFA fines NFF over ineligible player

FIFA on Tuesday clamped down the Nigeria Football Federation with a whoopy 6,000 Swiss Francs (about N2,177,280) fine and also cancelled Super Eagles 3-0 victory in a Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Algeria.

The World football governing body through its disciplinary committee in a statement on Tuesday said Nigeria fielded Shehu Abdullahi who was ineligible for the 10 November 2017 qualifier against Algeria.

FIFA explained that Abdullahi Shehu failed 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.



However, FIFA said this sanction bears no impact on the final result of the preliminary competition for the 2018 World Cup since Nigeria had already qualified (and Algeria eliminated) before the match took place.

The statement reads, “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.”

Due to the sanction, Nigeria’s points in the group stage dropped from 14 to 11, while Algeria gets five points.