Nigeria have forfeited their World Cup qualifier away to Algeria and been handed a 3-0 walkover defeat for fielding an ineligible player in the match, global soccer body FIFA said on Tuesday.
The fixture on Nov. 10 ended 1-1 and FIFA added that the decision did not affect the final standings in African Group B, nor Nigeria’s qualification for next year’s World Cup in Russia, as they had finished six points clear of Zambia.
FIFA said that East Timor had forfeited seven games in the World Cup qualifiers for fielding a total of nine players who were ineligible because of nationality. This was based on a decision previously taken by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
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.
