Nigeria’s suspension from international soccer was lifted on Friday, world governing body FIFA said.
The African country was banned earlier this month due to government interference in the national federation’s affairs.
“FIFA has noted that the court proceedings and order preventing the president of the NFF, the NFF Executive Committee members and the NFF Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football that prompted the suspension have been withdrawn,” a FIFA statement said. “As statutory order has been reinstated at the NFF and the legitimate bodies reinstalled, FIFA has decided to lift the suspension as of today.”
Nigeria’s reinstatement comes after a reversal of the decision to oust senior members of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) following allegations of corruption.
A regional high court had ordered the dismissal of the NFF executive two weeks ago, a day after the Super Eagles were eliminated from the World Cup by France in the last-16.
The court also mandated the sports minister to appoint a caretaker administrator, who swiftly called new elections. NFF president Aminu Maigari was also detained by police on his arrival back from Brazil, but later released.
Following discussions between a Nigerian government delegation and FIFA, the court order has been revoked and the executive returned to their positions.
Nigeria will now be able to send a team to the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Canada starting on Aug. 5, while their CAF Under-17 Championship qualifier against Rwanda set for this weekend had already been shifted to July 27.
African governments for decades dictated the leadership of their individual soccer associations until the practice was outlawed by FIFA.
Drastic changes like those in Nigeria are now rare, although fellow World Cup finalists Cameroon were suspended by FIFA last year before being reinstated.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS