The last has not been heard about the protest by Nigeria against DR Congo for fielding ineligible players in the world cup qualifiers playoff, where they defeated Nigeria to pick the ticket to represent Africa at the continental playoff in Mexico next year.
Nigeria protested that players of DR Congo played in the game while holding nationality of another country, which is against the constitution of the country that doesn’t recognise dual citizenship.
They queried how the players were able to get the passport that was used to clear them to play for the country, hence should be declared ineligible to play and the match in question be awarded to Nigeria.
Defending their act, Dr Congo argued that the players have sporting eligibility due to their Congolese roots hence free to play for them. However a spokesman of FIFA has given an insight into their claims.
” We recognise national laws before sporting laws. All passports must be gotten legally, meaning using national laws because it is international football. Without such restrictions you will have teams give passports to mercenaries to play for them”, he said in a chat with a US based Nigerian journalist who was at the AFCON.
