Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for this summer’s World Cup have suffered a major setback after FIFA rejected the country’s petition seeking the disqualification of DR Congo for fielding ineligible players against the Super Eagles during the final African playoffs in Morocco last November.
Despite FIFA’s decision, the Nigeria Football Federation is refusing to accept the ruling and has initiated proceedings to appeal the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s verdict before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We have received the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on our petition, but we are not satisfied with the decision, which rejected our petition.
“I want to assure Nigerians that the NFF has immediately commenced the process of appealing the decision,” said NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi yesterday.
Football insiders however revealed last night that what worked against Nigeria’s petition against DR Congo was the lateness in submission of the petition to FIFA after the November 16, 2025 Playoff final in Rabat, Morocco.
It was learnt that the Disciplinary Committee did not even look at the merit or otherwise of the Nigerian protest against DR Congo as the petition was not submitted within the acceptable timeframe for such. It was also learnt that the accompanying protest fee was not paid.
The NFF had presented a petition to world football-governing body, FIFA days after the said match, based on perceived fraud in the issuance of passports that qualified a number of players of the Democratic Republic of Congo for the Playoff.
Both sides were tied 1–1 after regulation and extra time, with the Congolese team ultimately triumphing in a sudden-death penalty shootout to claim victory.
Nigeria’s protest centered on what the Nigeria Football Federation described as alleged irregularities in the issuance of passports, which allowed several DR Congo players to be deemed eligible for the playoff.