The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been sanctioned by FIFA for fielding an “ineligible” Shehu Abdullahi in the match against Algeria on November 10, 2017.
This sanction is a result of Abdullahi’s failure to serve the automatic one-match ban imposed on him.
Abdullahi had received two yellow cards during the World Cup qualification.
FIFA fined the NFF the sum of CHF 6,000 (N2,162, 923), declaring the World Cup qualifier match forfeited and awarded it 3-0 in favour of Algeria.
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.
Meanwhile, NFF president Amaju Pinnick has directed that an internal probe be set up and persons found guilty be dealt with.
“We accept the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to fine the NFF and award the match to Algeria,” Pinnick told NFF media.
“However, this is a grave error and somebody must be punished. We apologize to Nigerians for this and assure that this will not in any way derail or even distract us in our well-laid plan to ensure that the Super Eagles have a great outing in Russia.
“At the same time, I want to assure that persons responsible for this slip would not be given just a slap on the wrist. We are actually looking at a re-organization of the Technical Department.
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