FIFA officials reportedly determined that Democratic Republic of Congo had fielded an ineligible player but allowed the country to continue its World Cup qualifying campaign, according to an investigation by The New York Times that has reopened questions over Nigeria’s failed bid to reach the 2026 World Cup.
The investigation claims FIFA’s legal officials privately found that goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi had not completed the required documentation to switch his international allegiance from France, where he had represented the country at youth level.
Despite that finding, FIFA reportedly allowed Mpasi to continue playing for Congo, which went on to defeat Jamaica in March and secure its first World Cup appearance in 52 years.
The revelation is particularly significant in Nigeria because the Super Eagles had already challenged Congo’s player eligibility after their defeat in the African play-off final in November 2025.
Nigeria lost the decisive tie on penalties, ending its hopes of reaching a second successive World Cup after also missing Qatar 2022.
The Nigeria Football Federation lodged a formal complaint with FIFA in December 2025, alleging that Congo had fielded players who were not properly eligible to represent the country.
Mpasi was among the players questioned by the NFF, which also alleged that the Congolese federation had misled FIFA in securing the eligibility of several foreign-born players.
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According to documents and correspondence reviewed by The New York Times, FIFA officials considered several possible responses to the complaint.
Those options reportedly included awarding the relevant match to Nigeria, imposing fines on Congo, replacing Congo with Nigeria in the playoff against Jamaica or taking no action on the grounds that Nigeria’s complaint had been filed late.
FIFA ultimately did not remove Congo from the qualification process.
The report has therefore raised fresh questions over why Nigeria’s complaint did not result in a sporting sanction despite the alleged internal finding concerning Mpasi.
Under FIFA’s eligibility rules, fielding an ineligible player can result in a team forfeiting the match in which the player appeared.
There is precedent for such sanctions. In 2016, FIFA sanctioned Greece after it fielded an ineligible player who had previously represented Australia at youth level, awarding a 3-0 defeat in its match against Turkey.
Two years later, FIFA changed the results of two World Cup qualifying matches involving Bolivia after finding that the country had fielded a player who had previously represented Paraguay.
Nigeria complaint was rejected by fifa
Former NFF president Ibrahim Musa Gusau said he had been informed that Nigeria’s complaint had been rejected on technical grounds.
He said, however, that he was not told FIFA had identified an eligibility problem involving Mpasi.
“They just kept quiet, and they can’t tell anyone because they know it’s going to be a serious crisis for them,” Gusau told The New York Times, while calling for an investigation.
The newspaper said it also reviewed a document that matched Gusau’s description of FIFA’s response to the Nigerian complaint.
The reported handling of the case has since brought renewed scrutiny to FIFA’s relationship with African football administrators and the wider political implications of the decision.
At the time FIFA was reviewing the Congo eligibility case, Véron Mosengo-Omba, an ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, was preparing to contest the presidency of the Congolese football federation.
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Two months after Congo qualified for the World Cup, Mosengo-Omba emerged as the sole candidate for the federation’s presidency and was elected after eight other contenders had either withdrawn or been disqualified following changes to the eligibility rules.
Cameroonian former FIFA official Prince Zelkifli Rahman Ngoufonja, popularly known as Prince Zul, questioned what removing Congo from the World Cup could have meant for Mosengo-Omba’s political prospects.
“If FIFA removed Congo from the World Cup,” he said, Mosengo-Omba’s prospects “could have been damaged.”
Mosengo-Omba, however, told The New York Times that he was unaware of FIFA’s findings regarding Mpasi’s eligibility.
then the Questions over Jamaica playoff
The controversy also extends beyond Nigeria because Congo eventually defeated Jamaica to secure its place at the 2026 World Cup.
Jamaica, which lost the decisive play-off to Congo, did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.
CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, expressed concern about the handling of eligibility complaints.
“Any concerns regarding player eligibility, particularly those that may affect the integrity of a competition or the interests of one of our member associations, need to be thoroughly reviewed and addressed,” it said.
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The latest claims do not, by themselves, establish that Nigeria would have qualified for the World Cup had FIFA acted differently.
However, they do raise a significant question over whether the governing body adequately addressed an eligibility issue that its own officials had reportedly identified while Nigeria’s complaint was still under consideration.
