Nigeria to probe sanction by FIFA

ABUJA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian football authorities on Wednesday ordered an investigation aimed at looking into the issues which led to Nigeria being sanctioned by world football governing body FIFA.

The four-man committee set up by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is to investigate the claims made by FIFA in sanctioning Nigeria.

FIFA's disciplinary committee had on Tuesday announced that Nigeria was forfeiting the 2018 FIFA World Cup Africa zone qualifying Group B match against Algeria on Nov. 10.

The FIFA committee said this was as a result of Nigeria's use of ineligible defender Abdullahi Shehu in the match.

Abdullahi, who got fielded in the match, ought to have served the automatic one-match suspension as a result of receiving a caution in two separate matches of the same competition.

The encounter, which was both teams' last match in the series, had ended in a 1-1 draw, but FIFA on Tuesday awarded all three points to Algeria.

In addition to declaring the match to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favor of Algeria, Nigeria also received a fine of 6,000 Swiss Francs.

Nigeria's top football administrator Amaja Pinnick said the investigative committee has two weeks to submit its report.

"It has the responsibility of thoroughly investigating how the slip came about and those who were responsible, recommend appropriate sanctions and also make other recommendations that will forestall this kind of error in the future," Pinnick added. Enditem