Zurich: Fifa has given Nigeria and Ghana final deadlines to avoid international suspensions because of outside interference in their football associations.
Fifa said on Tuesday that the Nigerian football federation headquarters must be handed back to the elected leadership by Monday or the country will be suspended from international competition.
A group claiming to be in charge of Nigerian football took over the building last month while NFF president Amaju Pinnick was in Russia for the World Cup. The group claims a Nigerian court order gives them control of the federation.
A suspension means Nigerian national teams won’t be allowed to take part in any international competitions, although Fifa said the Nigerian women’s under-20 team currently competing at the World Cup in France would be able to continue in that tournament “on an exceptional basis” because it has already started.
Ghana has been given until August 27 to reverse a court order dissolving its Football Association. The government ordered the GFA to be dissolved after allegations of widespread corruption in Ghanaian football were made in an undercover documentary. Fifa doesn’t allow governments to interfere in the running of football bodies.
