{"id":52250,"date":"2014-07-10T16:58:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-10T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=52250"},"modified":"2014-07-10T16:58:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-10T13:58:30","slug":"nigeria-football-ban-fifa-bans-nigeria-from-football-over-government-interference-africa-news-52250","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/nigeria-football-ban-fifa-bans-nigeria-from-football-over-government-interference-africa-news-52250\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria Football Ban: FIFA Bans Nigeria from Football over Government Interference \/ Africa News"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Nigeria-Football-Ban.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52257\" title=\"Nigeria-Football-Ban\" alt=\"Nigeria-Football-Ban\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Nigeria-Football-Ban.jpg\" width=\"610\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Nigeria-Football-Ban.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Nigeria-Football-Ban-280x151.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/h1>\n<h1>The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has suspended Nigeria from all football competition indefinitely over its government interference in the affairs of the football federation in the country.<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">FIFA\u2019s statutes oppose government interference in football matters and those who go against this rule are handed the highest sanctions which indefinite suspension.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">After Nigeria\u2019s exit from the ongoing Brazil 2014 World Cup, the government dissolved the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) over financial misappropriation during the team\u2019s stay in the World Cup. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The Federation\u2019s President, Aminu Maigari was also arrested by police and he has been placed under formal investigation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The Nigerian government then secured a court order, restraining the Executive Committee of the football federation from running the affairs of football in the country. But FIFA says it has already warned the country to re instate the dissolved Executive Committee or risk being suspended.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;The FIFA Emergency Committee has decided today, July 9, 2014, to suspend the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with immediate effect, on account of government interference,&#8221; a statement on FIFA\u2019S website said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;The decision follows a letter sent by FIFA to the NFF on July 4, 2014, in which it expressed its great concern after the NFF was served with court proceedings and consequently an order preventing the president of the NFF, the NFF Executive Committee members and the NFF Congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football was granted by a High Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,&#8221; the statement explained further.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">This ban prevents all levels of the national teams and clubs in the country to participate in any organized football continentally or internationally. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;As a result of this decision, no team from Nigeria of any sort (including clubs) can have any international sporting contact (art. 14 par. 3 of the FIFA Statutes). During the period of suspension, the NFF may not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions, including at club level, or in friendly matches. The most immediate effect is that Nigeria will not be entitled to participate in the upcoming FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup (5-24 August 2014) should the suspension not be lifted by 15 July 2014,&#8221; FIFA said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">But FIFA also assured the country that once it is able to solve the crisis and re instates the federation, the ban would be lift for the country to enjoy football once again.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;The suspension will be lifted once the court actions have been withdrawn and the properly elected NFF Executive Committee, the NFF general assembly and the NFF administration are able to work without any interference in their affairs,&#8221; It added.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">But the Nigerian government says the NFF has sent documents to FIFA to show that the general assembly was held according to FIFA statutes and that the government has not interfered in the affairs of the football federation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><b>Issaka Adams \/ NationalTurk Sports<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Writer\u2019s Email Address: <a href=\"mailto:Ad&#97;msi&#115;&#115;&#107;&#97;&#64;g&#111;&#111;&#103;&#108;e&#109;ai&#108;.&#99;&#111;&#109;\">A&#100;&#97;&#109;sis&#115;&#107;&#97;&#64;&#103;&#111;o&#103;&#108;em&#97;i&#108;.&#99;om<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #f00;\">Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 15)<\/span>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has suspended Nigeria from all football competition indefinitely over its government interference in the affairs of the football federation in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,80,63,1,118,14],"tags":[77153,478,2062],"class_list":["post-52250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-world","tag-africa","tag-fifa","tag-nigeria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}