@football.discussi7: FIFA has been exposed by investigative reports for dismissing Nigeria's valid eligibility petition against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on purely technical and procedural grounds, despite internal documents revealing that FIFA's own legal department knew DR Congo fielded an ineligible player. Reports from The New York Times, Le Monde, and The Athletic revealed that FIFA lawyers discovered DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was ineligible in March—prior to DR Congo's final qualification matches—because his international association switch from France was never officially finalized. Despite these internal findings, FIFA allowed DR Congo to progress, escape disciplinary action, and compete in the World Cup. Although the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) presented a strong case highlighting that several Congolese players violated eligibility rules—citing conflicts with domestic citizenship laws and incomplete international switches—FIFA threw out the case due to procedural failures by the NFF: • Nigeria filed its formal protest on November 28, well outside the mandatory window requiring a notification to the match commissioner within two hours of the game's completion and a written submission within 24 hours. • The NFF failed to pay the required 1,000 Swiss Francs protest fee, preventing the judicial bodies from formally reviewing the core facts of the case. #FIFAWorldCup

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Tuesday 06 October 2026 13:55:41 GMT