Fifa allowed the Democratic Republic of the Congo to compete at this summer’s World Cup despite reports suggesting an internal investigation found that the country had fielded an ineligible player in qualifying.
Goalkeeper’s eligibility questioned
The player in question, the goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi, starred for his nation at the tournament, including against England in the last 32. Mpasi, who was born in France and played for Les Bleus as a youth, had never completed the process of switching nationalities, Fifa reportedly found. No punishment was levied against the Congolese federation, Fecofa.
The news will again raise questions over the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, with a series of governance scandals having brought heightened scrutiny on his position. Fifa’s investigative teams are independent and the president has no input into their proceedings. Fifa is understood to have denied that Infantino played a part in the decision-making process over Mpasi, but his name is likely to remain in focus owing to a former university associate, Véron Mosengo-Omba, being elected unopposed as president of Fecofa this May.
Complaint and appeal
The Nigerian Football Federation submitted a complaint over the DRC apparently fielding ineligible players during a World Cup playoff tie between the nations, which the DRC won on penalties, in November.
According to reporting by the New York Times and Le Monde, Fifa investigators were aware of Mpasi’s situation before DRC defeated Jamaica in a final intercontinental playoff round in March. Faced with a series of possible responses, including banning Congo from the playoffs, Fifa chose to reject the Nigerian complaint on the grounds it had not been submitted within the necessary timeframe.
Nigeria appealed against the decision and government representatives have suggested they could seek financial compensation, with a member of the national sports commission, which regulates Nigerian sport, telling ESPN: “Nothing has been decided yet, but we will seriously consider seeking compensation from Fifa for all of the economic losses this has cost Nigeria.”
Reactions and further complaints
Concacaf, the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation, which includes Jamaica among its members, said it “takes player eligibility matters very seriously and expects the applicable regulations and procedures to be applied consistently and fairly in all competitions”. In a statement it asked that any “concerns regarding player eligibility” be “thoroughly reviewed and addressed through Fifa’s appropriate governance and disciplinary bodies”.
Fifa, Concacaf, Caf, the Nigerian Football Federation and the Congolese federation, Fecofa, were all approached for comment.
On Tuesday the Norwegian football federation confirmed it had submitted a three-pronged complaint to Fifa over its governance, including the decision to overturn a red card awarded to the US’s Folarin Balogun after a telephone intervention by Donald Trump. The other instances cited by the NFF are the Fifa peace prize and the abandoned plan to sell a share in the World Cup to investors, known as the Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme.
“Each of these cases must be assessed based on the facts of each individual case,” said the president of the NFF, Lise Klaveness. “At the same time, the cases point to a more fundamental question: has Fifa’s position, authority or influence been used in a way that was not appropriate, and if so, did the mechanisms that were supposed to prevent this function work as they should?”
