Nigeria’s challenge to FIFA over the eligibility of several Democratic Republic of Congo players in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is “very tight” and firmly grounded in the rules of the game, according to National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman Shehu Dikko, Soccernet.ng reports.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, Dikko addressed growing public debate surrounding FIFA’s scrutiny of DR Congo following allegations that the Central African nation fielded players who were not fully eligible during the recent playoff matches against Nigeria.
His comments come at a sensitive moment for Nigerian football, with the Super Eagles having already suffered playoff elimination and now facing the prospect of missing consecutive FIFA World Cups for the first time since 1990.
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Nigeria’s case and the roots of suspicion
Dikko was emphatic that Nigeria’s decision to approach FIFA was not driven by bitterness over defeat to DR Congo, but by concerns that predated the playoff loss.
According to him, Nigerian football authorities began monitoring DR Congo’s squad well before the November qualifiers after irregularities were noticed when the Congolese announced their playoff squad on November 1, nearly two weeks before the decisive fixtures on November 13.
Dikko explained, “So, when we saw the squad that was put in place for the playoffs, the squad was named on November 1 and the playoffs were on November 13, we looked at the squad of our opponents. We found out from the beginning that even the Congolese had already named players of other nationalities who had not been cleared by FIFA in their squad. That was an alarm, so everybody started monitoring, even though the players were not being played.
“This issue did not start because we lost the playoffs. We had been watching what they were doing, and then we found out a day before the qualifiers that they were getting clearances so that the players were qualified to play.”
Dikko questioned how players who were not cleared at the time of squad announcement could legally become eligible just a day before competitive fixtures.
“But if you look back, what gave them the confidence to name a player of another nationality in their squad to play a match two weeks later, when he wasn’t qualified to play for them until the day before the match they received permission? That raised alarm for us after the qualifiers,” he said.
Legal review, FIFA complaint and ‘not being sore losers’
The NSC chairman revealed that following the playoff defeat, Nigeria sought the opinion of legal and international law experts, whose findings raised concerns about how the clearances were obtained.
Drawing parallels with a previous FIFA ruling that saw South Africa docked three points for fielding an ineligible player, Dikko stressed that FIFA’s regulations on nationality and eligibility are uncompromising.
“It is the responsibility of a federation to ensure passports are issued in line with the law. You cannot just issue a passport to someone and change his nationality. If the passport is not issued according to the law of that country, it affects everything,” Dikko said.
Nigeria has since lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, and the matter is now under review.
While acknowledging the disappointment of defeat, Dikko dismissed claims that Nigeria is attempting to overturn results through sentiment rather than law.
“Yes, we lost. Unfortunately, everybody was angry about it. We are not sore losers, but it’s part of the rules. We bring in our legal team, we bring in our international lawyers. We look at the legal opinion, we look at the laws, and we found out there is some suspicion that some things have not been done right according to the laws of the game.
“There are probably, from what we found out, misrepresentations to FIFA to obtain those clearances,” he added.
Having already missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Super Eagles now face the grim prospect of failing to qualify for back-to-back tournaments.
