AFCON
NFF can appeal FIFA’s hefty fine
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
In the aftermath of the ill-fated World Cup play-off with Ghana in March at the Abuja stadium, the world football’s governing body, FIFA, imposed a fine of CHF 150,000 on the Nigeria Football Federation and also announced that the next international match of the Super Eagles, the Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifiers with Sierra Leone will be played behind closed doors.
The fine imposed on Nigeria is the second heaviest after the CHF 175,000 imposed on Senegal FA. While the incidents that occasioned the fines on NFF and the Senegal FA are just one in each instance, there are countries whose infractions were even up to three instances and yet had lower fines.
For instance, Bolivia which had similar incident like that of Abuja – Order and security including invasion of the field of play and throwing of objects – is fined a laughable CHF 27,000 in comparison to Nigeria’s CHF 150,000. Also, Bolivia were also charged with use of laser pointers and use of words to transmit a message that is not appropriate for a sports events – offensive chants.
Yet the fine was lower than that of Nigeria pointing to disproportionate mete of punishment for the same offence. They are not punished with a closed-door match unlike what was meted to Nigeria.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from FIFA, “some decisions may be subject to appeal.” It pointed out that the decisions released to the media is just for information and may not be deemed a valid legal document.
In another instance comparable to Nigeria’s, Canada who were twice charged, had in an instance just a warning letter and a fine of CHF 15,000 for team misconduct by delaying kick off and were also charged with order and security as well as invasion of the field of play during their World Cup qualifying match with USA on 30 April.
It is to be noted that Canada were charged under two sections of FIFA Disciplinary Code: Art. 12 & 16, while Nigeria breached only the Art. 16 yet carry a heftier punishment that Canada that breached two articles of the disciplinary code.
There are many of such instances. In all instances involving 36 countries across the continents, only three African countries – Nigeria, Senegal and DR Congo are given hefty fines in hundred of thousands as well as closed door matches.
The others were given limited crowd attendance as punishments.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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