Soccer governing body FIFA yesterday gave Nigeria just under two days to reverse its decision to ban the national team from international matches.
FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke said he would meet the Nigerian executive member representing Nigeria at FIFA to discuss the decision.
“Nigeria went too far and Nigeria will be suspended if they don’t change their position in the next 48 hours,” Valcke told independent Talk Radio 702.
The idea is to overhaul the system to avoid a repeat of the “rather embarrassing” display in South Africa, presidential spokesman Ima Niboro said earlier, explaining the decision.
“You can’t allow a government to say all national teams can’t play anymore in any international tournaments,” Valcke said.
He said the decision to suspend Nigeria would be in line with the governing body’s efforts to retain the independence of soccer from political interference.
“Why should we be so strong on France when they did what they did and we say nothing about Nigeria,” Valcke said, referring to FIFA warnings to the French government not to interfere in the infrastructure of the French soccer regime. “We have 208 members ... if you have one country going against our statute, going against the football system, the pyramid of football ... all is destroyed,” Valcke said.
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