Player not eligible for FIFA, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo take part in the World Cup: storm erupts. Nigeria furious

FIFA is facing a storm. According to the New York Times, legal officials at world football’s governing body had privately determined that the Democratic Republic of the Congo were fielding an ineligible player. That emerges from internal documents and correspondence examined by the New York Times, and from statements by a senior official directly involved in the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity because these are sensitive matters. Such a violation usually results in the team being handed a forfeit defeat in every match in which the ineligible player was used. The Democratic Republic of the Congo needed to win one final match, the play-off against Jamaica, to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. FIFA allowed the player and the team to continue their run. Congo beat Jamaica, thereby securing a place in the tournament.

FIFA’s review of the Congo squad followed a complaint from Nigeria over the player’s eligibility, after Congo had beaten them to reach the match against Jamaica. During that investigation, FIFA found Congo had never completed the necessary paperwork to allow goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi to switch affiliation after representing France’s youth teams, according to the documents. FIFA did not deny what emerged from the Times investigation, saying only that they had closed the Nigeria case on a technicality. In an email to the Times, FIFA said its committees are “independent and decide cases according to the regulations in force and the specific facts under examination”, adding that Infantino had no role in those decisions.

In Congo’s case, FIFA officials weighed up several options, including awarding Nigeria a walkover win, imposing financial sanctions, replacing Congo with Nigeria in the play-off against Jamaica or taking no action, given that Nigeria had lodged the complaint late; that is what emerges from the documents. Further correspondence linked to the investigation, also seen by the Times, set out action FIFA had taken in previous cases, in line with information already in the public domain. A FIFA legal official not involved in the case confirmed the authenticity of the documents obtained by the Times.

In 2016, after Greece fielded an ineligible player, who had represented Australia at youth level, FIFA stepped in and handed them a 3-0 forfeit defeat for the match against Turkey. Two years later, FIFA changed the results of two Bolivia matches in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup after ruling that the Bolivian national team had fielded a player who had previously represented Paraguay.

This article first appeared on Goal.com and was syndicated with permission.

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