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The World governing body, FIFA, has slammed a heavy fine on Nigeria
for fielding an ineligible player against Algeria in a Russia 2018 World
Cup qualifier.
The disciplinary committee of the body in a statement on Tuesday
slammed a princely sum of CHF 6,000 (N2.17 million) on the three-time
African champions.
The Committee stated that the Nigeria Football Federation was
sanctioned for the match between Algeria and Nigeria on November 10,
2017.
The match, according to the committee, is declared to be forfeited
and awarded 3-0 in favour of Algeria, with the NFF also receiving a fine
of CHF 6,000.
“The sanction relates to the player Abdullahi Shehu failing to serve
the automatic one-match suspension imposed on him as a result of
receiving a caution in two separate matches of the same competition.
“This sanction bears no impact on the final result of the preliminary
competition for the FIFA World Cup since Nigeria had already qualified
(and Algeria eliminated) before the match took place,” the statement
read.
Due to the sanction, Nigeria’s points in the group stage would automatically drop from 14 to 11, while Algeria gets five points.