Nigeria have been fined ₦64,930,323.27 by the world football governing body FIFA after angry fans stormed the MKO Abiola Stadium pitch and began destroying property on the field and throwing objects at visiting Ghana fans and Black Stars players.
Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar losing to Ghana 1–1 based on the away-goals tiebreaker.
FIFA today (Tuesday) published the sanctions imposed by its Disciplinary Committee for incidents that took place in the preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the first quarter of this year.
In line with FIFA’s zero-tolerance stance against discrimination and violence in football, a number of member associations including the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have been punished due to the abusive behaviour by their respective supporters.
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)
Nigeria was fined for breaching Article 16 of the (FIFA Disciplinary Code = FDC) and a fine of CHF 150,000 (about ₦64,930,323.27) was imposed on the NFF.
The AFCON 2013 champions was also imposed a
one (1) match ban without spectators.
Recall the ugly scene in Abuja saw fans make their way onto the field before the final whistle was blown, causing the Ghanaian players to struggle to leave the field. They eventually got out, though it’s unclear if anyone was hurt during the incident.
When police arrived on the scene, they began beating the rioters with batons and ultimately used tear gas on the fans to disperse them.
