Nigeria is not backing down after sacking its entire national football federation leadership, ignoring a FIFA directive and moving closer to a ban from internationals for the reigning African champion.
A weekend meeting of football and government officials in the capital Abuja endorsed the earlier sacking of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Aminu Maigari and the EC for not solving a player payment dispute during the World Cup.
Officials said they were planning new elections in a statement on Sunday.
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The NFF is now being led by an official appointed by the sports minister.
FIFA, which doesn’t allow governments to interfere in football affairs, said it would not recognise Saturday’s meeting and has given Nigeria until Tuesday to reinstate Maigari or face sanctions.
That would likely involve banning the country’s national team and clubs from playing in continental or international tournaments, and could leave players like Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel and Liverpool’s Victor Moses frozen out of next year’s African Cup in Morocco, where Nigeria is due to defend its title.
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Maigari was also arrested on his return from the World Cup and delegates at the emergency meeting said they blamed him for embarrassing Nigeria at the tournament by not resolving the bonus dispute.