*Calls Nigeria ‘Bad Losers’
Apparently bemused that Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) petitioned FIFA over alleged use of ineligible players by the Leopards during the 2026 World Cup playoffs in Morocco, Congo DR has mocked Nigeria.
Reacting to the said petition in which NFF sought Congo DR’s disqualification and their replacement by the Super Eagles at the oncoming intercontinental playoffs, the Congolese team, in a post on its official Instagram page on Tuesday night, warned Nigeria against attempting to qualify for the World Cup “from the back door” after losing to them on penalties.
Congo DR wrote: “If you can’t win on the pitch don’t try to win from the back door. The World Cup has to be played with dignity and confidence. Not with lawyers’ tricks. Bring it on. Allez y les Leopards. Bad losers.”
The post followed confirmation by the NFF that it had submitted a formal petition to FIFA, accusing Congo DR of fielding nine ineligible players in the final CAF 2026 World Cup playoff against the Super Eagles last month.
Speaking to ScoreNigeria, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, accused the Congolese Football Federation of misleading FIFA over the eligibility status of the players.
Sanusi said: “The Nigerian petition is on nine players of DRC. FIFA were deceived into clearing those players because it is not FIFA’s responsibility to interpret or enforce domestic citizenship laws.”
He contended that Congolese law does not allow dual citizenship, which, to him, applied to the players in question.
His words: “DR Congo law does not permit dual citizenship, yet some of the players involved reportedly hold dual nationality.
“FIFA rules say once you have a passport of your country, you’re eligible, and that is why they were cleared.
“But our concern is that FIFA was deceived into clearing them. It is not FIFA’s responsibility to enforce Congo’s domestic regulations; FIFA acts based on what is submitted to it. What we are saying is that the process was fraudulent.”
Some football followers say, faced with damaging pressure over Nigeria’s non-qualification for football’s greatest tournament, the generally sorry state of the sport in the country in addition to questions over its handling of FIFA’s World Cup qualifier funds, NFF seeks to deflect this pressure by moving to raise optimism among Nigerian football fans through the petition.
The last time Nigeria, a country of an estimated over 200 million people, appeared at the World Cup was in 2018 and narrowly missed out on the 2022 tournament in Qatar; thus, missing the 2026 edition would mean consecutive absences for a country that was once Africa’s undoubted football giant.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Sadness and joy for Nigeria and Congo DR, respectively, after their clash.
