Nigeria have been sanctioned by FIFA for fielding an ineligible player in their final 2018 World Cup qualifying group match against Algeria, which has now been awarded as a 3-0 win to the Desert Warriors."The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the match between Algeria and Nigeria on 10 November 2017," the Committee said in a statement.
"The match 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."
Abdullahi was booked in the previous game against Zambia on November 2017 -- adding to his earlier booking against Swaziland in the preliminary qualifier in November 2015 -- and should have been suspended against Algeria, but the NFF failed to pick up on it and coach Gernot Rohr field the player for 90 minutes.
Responding to the sanction, NFF president Amaju Pinnick issued an apology to Nigerians and immediately directed that an internal investigation be set up.
"We accept the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to fine the NFF and award the match to Algeria. However, this is a grave error and somebody must be punished.
"We apologise to Nigerians for this and assure that this will not in any way derail or even distract us in our well-laid plan to ensure that the Super Eagles have a great outing in Russia.
"At the same time, I want to assure that persons responsible for this slip would not be given just a slap on the wrist. We are actually looking at a re-organization of the Technical Department. The Technical Committee will henceforth play serious superintending role on all details, no matter how minute, in technical matters.
"It is important that all committees and departments at the NFF should move at the same pace as the Executive Committee."
The forfeiture does not change Nigeria's qualification status, but reduces the points haul from 14 to 13.
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