It’s out of our hands — Nigeria ‘factually’ out of World Cup race as FIFA remain silent on South Africa

Alhaji Shehu Dikko, the chairman of the National Sports Commission, has admitted what many fans of the Super Eagles have already resigned to: that Nigeria will most likely miss the 2026 World Cup. 

Whatever slim chance Eric Chelle's side had going into the last international break relied on two factors: beating South Africa and FIFA deducting three points from Bafana Bafana’s tally for fielding an ineligible player earlier in the campaign—neither happened.

In a Zoom interview with Channels TV, relayed by the Guardian, Dikko conceded that Nigeria were in a precarious situation and no longer had fate in their hands. 

”As for the World Cup, we all know where we are; when we came on board, we only had three points out of 12,” he said. 

“The Commission and the NFF put their heads together, and now we have eight points in the last four games. If we had got these points, we would have been talking of qualifying for the World Cup.

”At this moment, we have to be factual about it; based on the number, it is basically out of our hands. We just have to win our games and see where that would take us. 

“But we are still hopeful because it’s football, and someone will lose, and anything can happen. Factually, it is not in our hands, and we just have to keep doing what we have to do by supporting the team.”

As Pulse Sports reported, FIFA has released its latest list of disciplinary sanctions stemming from the preliminary competition for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The decision included a major ruling which seemingly exonerated South Africa of any wrongdoing in a long-standing case, as it said the Bafana Bafana has no pending cases, a development with major implications for the qualifying campaign, especially for rivals like Nigeria's Super Eagles.

This announcement puts an end to weeks of speculation and uncertainty surrounding their potential punishment for allegedly fielding an ineligible player, Teboho Mokoena, in a previous qualifier against Lesotho.

The controversy arose after reports suggested that Mokoena should have been suspended for the March fixture due to yellow card accumulation. Under FIFA’s disciplinary code, such an offence could result in a 3-0 forfeiture of the match, a points deduction, and a fine.

The reason FIFA might have opted against punishing South Africa remains unclear, but it is likely due to the stipulation in the regulation which requires the aggrieved federation (Lesotho) to file a report within 24 hours. Lesotho’s report came well after.