FIFA Sanction Nigeria for fielding ineligible player in World Cup qualifier, deducts points

FIFA has fined the Nigeria Football Federation 6 ,000 Swiss Francs ( about N 2, 177 ,280 ) for fielding an ineligible player in a Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying match.

The disciplinary committee of the body in a statement on Tuesday said the three -time African champions fielded Shehu Abdullahi who was ineligible for the qualifier against Algeria on November 10 , 2017 .

The committee awarded 3 - 0 in favour of Algeria , with the NFF also receiving a fine of CHF 6, 000 ( about $ 6 ,045 . 30 ) .

The statement reads , “ 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 .”
Due to the sanction, Nigeria ’s points in the group stage dropped from 14 to 11 , while Algeria gets five points .