The Brave Warriors were on Friday handed three points by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) Disciplinary Committee after finding Equatorial Guinea guilty of using an ineligible player. On 15 November 2023, Namibia played their opening World Cup qualifier match against Equatorial Guinea, where the Brave Warriors lost 0-1.
Equatorial Guinea fielded their Spanish-born international player, Emilio Nsue López, the national team’s all-time top scorer, who at the time was ineligible to represent his country.
In a statement published on the Fifa website on Friday, its Disciplinary Committee sanctioned the Equatorial Guinean Football Association (FEGUIFUT) and the player Emilio Nsue López on grounds of ineligibility.
“The Fifa Disciplinary Committee has rendered its decisions about proceedings opened against both the Equatorial Guinean Football Association and the player Emilio Nsue López with regards to the latter’s participation in several matches of the national team of Equatorial Guinea, including two matches in the ongoing Fifa World Cup 2026 preliminary competition, despite being ineligible,” reads the statement.
The statement added that after considering all elements brought before them, the Committee was comfortably satisfied that the player was ineligible – and consequently decided to declare the matches of the Fifa World Cup 2026 preliminary competition in which the player was fielded (namely Equatorial Guinea vs Namibia; Liberia vs Equatorial Guinea, played on 15 November 2023 and 20 November 2023, respectively) lost by forfeit by Equatorial Guinea (by a score of 3-0). In addition, the Committee imposed the following sanctions: a fine amounting to CHF 150 000 upon FEGUIFUT; and a six-month ban from playing for any representative team of any association upon the player Emilio Nsue López.
The Fifa Disciplinary Committee’s findings were notified on Friday to the parties concerned. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, the parties have 10 days in which to request a motivated decision, which, if requested, would subsequently be published on legal.fifa.com. The present decisions remain subject to an appeal before the Fifa Appeal Committee, read the statement.
Namibia’s victory will move them into second place in the standings level on six points with Tunisia, who currently top the six-team group.
Liberia will move into third place with three points, while Malawi will be in fourth place.
Equatorial Guinea, on the other hand, will be relegated to the bottom of the standings with zero points. -Nampa