Nigeria’s bizarre chase for 2026 World Cup ticket

By Douglas Baye-Osagie

At a time when the Africa is preparing for the commencement of the biggest football event in the continent, the 35th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Nigeria Football Federation has awaken the hopes and raised the consciousness of soccer fans with a different kind of distraction.

They’ve whispered loudly to the Nigerian football lovers globally that there is a backdoor entrance available to the biggest football event in the World next year in America, Canada and Mexico. Like a petulant kid, Nigeria’s Football Federation is protesting at football world governing body, FIFA’s doorstep again. Remember during the qualifying rounds, a protest against South Africa for fielding a player, Mokhoena with accumulated yellow cards led to point deductions and helped push Nigeria to the playoffs NFF General Secretary, Dr. Sanusi Mohammed on Tuesday 15th December 2025 alleged players’ ineligibility as a reason Nigeria’s hope of making the World Cup next year is real.

“FIFA was deceived into clearing those players because it is not FIFA’s responsibility to interpret or enforce domestic citizenship laws. “DR Congo law does not permit dual citizenship, yet some of the players involved reportedly hold dual nationality. “It is not FIFA’s duty to know the domestic laws of every country; that is why we formally drew FIFA’s attention to the issue, and we are now awaiting their verdict”

We have a group of Administrators who have failed to grow our football in the last 10 years . From Amaju Pinnick to Ibrahim Gusau, the federation has focused on attending competitions rather than building the right structure for the game in Nigeria. From failure to qualify for consecutive Olympic soccer events to back to back World Cups and also missing out on our once birthrights 3 straight U17 World Cups, it is very obvious the politicians in them will want to grab at any window to jump into the 2026 World Cup. Right now they have awakened the hopes of millions of Nigerian football fans who are meant to have switched off from the World Cup to the Nations Cup tournament. But do we have a chance.

YES! Does the rule work in our favour? It will boil down to how FIFA interprets her own laws. There is total panic in the streets of Kinshaha because they know the registration of foreign players was a bit hurriedly done. “FIFA does not reason in terms of legal nationality but rather in terms of sporting nationality. If that is the case, I advise you dear Nigeria brothers to focus on the AFCON – Herita Ilunga former West Ham player and Head of Football, DR Congo ???? Federation.

Even though the Congolese are defiant and brash about the whole episode, there is a sense of fear that they milot of prayers to scale past these allegations. They claim once FIFA approves a player, they don’t have to bother and sports rules are different from Countries’ laws. Just this week FIFA penalised Malaysia with three 3-0 defeats for fielding ineligible players, the country’s football authorities said Wednesday, the latest punishment in a simmering scandal. Friendly wins over Palestine and Singapore, and a draw against Cape Verde, all at home this year, have been overturned, the Football Association of Malaysia said.

FIFA has already suspended seven foreign-born national team players over forged documents that claimed they had Malaysian ancestry. This will further send a chilled fear all over DR Congo as they await judgment day when FIFA gives a ruling on Nigeria’s protest. Under DR Congo’s own Constitution, nationality is not something that can be rushed or improvised. Foreigners can only become Congolese through clearly defined processes – naturalization, marriage, option, or adoption – and even then, only when the state determines that the decision is in its national interest. Final approval is not automatic; it must pass through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, and the President. In simple terms, a passport alone is not enough. Naturalization, for example, requires:

•Proven good character •No serious criminal convictions

• At least seven years of residence (or five years of permanent residency)

• Evidence that the applicant’s citizenship serves a real national interest. Some Nigerians have come out to say this is a shameful and disgraceful path to the World Cup and we should be worried about fixing our football. But in this scenario two truths can coexist. Nigeria football administrators have been below average despite the avalanche of talents and secondly DR Congo seems to have breached their own laws in the registration of players for the National team. So Nigeria can pull every form of evidence to nail the Congolese.

The Nsue case is a prime example of FIFA’s strict eligibility rules. Emilio Nsue, the former captain of Equatorial Guinea’s national team, was ruled ineligible to play for the country due to not meeting the necessary requirements. Nsue was born in Spain to an Equatoguinean father and played for Spain’s youth teams before switching to Equatorial Guinea in 2013. However, FIFA determined that Nsue didn’t follow the proper procedure for changing his nationality, making him ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea. As a result, FIFA:

•Suspended Nsue for six months from international football

•Fined Equatorial Guinea $164,000

•Revoked Equatorial Guinea’s wins against Namibia and Liberia in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, awarding 3-0 victories to their opponents Nsue had played for Equatorial Guinea for over 11 years, scoring 23 goals in 40+ games, including five goals at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. The decision was a major blow to Equatorial Guinea’s World Cup hopes However, in March 2025, FIFA lifted Nsue’s suspension, making him eligible to play for Equatorial Guinea again.

If FIFA confirms that any DR Congo player in the CAF playoffs final:

•Did not meet the country’s legal nationality requirements

•Illegally held dual nationality

•Or relied on falsified or misleading documents

Then FIFA will have no choice but to act. That would mean annulling the result of the match and applying forfeiture rules – a decision that would strip DR Congo of its place in the 2026 Intercontinental Playoffs and keep Nigeria’s hope alive. From the South African protest to the African playoffs to the ineligibility of DR Congo players, if we somehow manage to advance, it’ll be the most convoluted route to a World Cup in the tournament’s history..

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