Football’s World governing body, FIFA has ordered Nigeria to play its next home game behind closed doors as part of the body’s Disciplinary Committee’s ruling over the ugly scenes inside the MKO Abiola Stadium after the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Ghana.
The ruling published, Monday, on FIfa website also stated that the Nigeria Football Federation will pay a fine of CHF 150,000.
On March 29 Nigeria hosted Ghana in the second leg of their 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off. The crucial game held at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja three days after the sides had played a goalless draw at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
The Abuja stadium was filled to capacity with over 50,000 spectators, moat of whom turned out to cheer the Super Eagles to victory.
However, the game ended 1-1 and the Black Stars of Ghana secured one of five tickets for Africa at the World Cup in Qatar.
Unfortunately, the outcome of the game saw several hundreds of irate fans invade the pitch, destroyed some facilities and threw missiles as the melee ensued.
Eventually, the crowd was dispersed but not initially as the number of security personnel could not contain the situation.
In acknowledging the severity of the incident, FIFA served the NFF sanctions for a breach of the World governing body’s regulations in Article 16 during international matches.
“Order and security at matches (failure to implement existing safety rules and failure
to ensure that law and order are maintained in the stadium, invasion of the field of play and throwing of objects)”
Meanwhile, Nigeria is due to face Sierra Leone on May 30 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
It will be Nigeria’s first competitive international game at home since the incident in Abuja.
