Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has said he and his players have put behind them the disappointment of failing to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup and have shifted their focus to the 2025 AFCON.
The Super Eagles will begin their AFCON campaign in Group C against Tanzania in Fes on Tuesday.
The team would hope to bounce back from the failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup by aiming to clinch a fourth continental title in Morocco.
To be able to achieve this, the Super Eagles must emerge from a group that also has Tunisia and Uganda.
Ahead of Tuesday’s contest Chelle, Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Monday, stated that what is more important now is the AFCON 2025, as they have moved on from the World Cup qualification heartbreak.
Also Read: AFCON 2025: We Are More Than Ready To Face Nigeria –Tanzania Head Coach, Gomandi
“We are here and we have a game tomorrow and also we have a tournament so we don’t have the time to think about what has happened before,” Chelle said.
“This is not the moment to talk about the World Cup qualiiers, for now the most important thing is this tournament.”
The former Malian handler added:”Our first game is a big game and the first game is very important and for sure we want to win this game.”
The Super Eagles would hope to get off to a perfect start at this year’s AFCON after settling for a 1-1 draw in their opener against Equatorial Guinea in 2023.
By James Agberebi in Fes, Morocco
8 Comments
Should we still believe our qualification hope is alive, going by the NFF’s move of non-eligibility allegations levied against the Congolese players? Please, how can we watch nearly all the matches? GoTv has disappointed us by restricting the matches to one channel. So, subscribers of GoTv Jinja, who have paid #3900, monthly, will not have access to watch the matches. It’s really bad!
Isn’t NTA showing it? Have you tried NTA 2 Channel 5, they are your reach out station who never settle for less.
If it is dedicated channel, it is enough. Matches are 1:30pm, 4pm, 6:30pm and 9pm.
Good way for a dedicated channel to show all the matches.
The only snag will be the final group games where 2 matches are played concurrently.
Is what I’m hearing true that Chelle is being owed 3 months salary? On top of that, players bonuses remain unpaid! And we’re about to start a major tournament.
NFF ONIGBESE!
Our unpaid coach has been given a semifinal target.
Who do us like this?
If this is true @Pompei, then this is bad. NFF are worst.
It is important that all fans acquaint themselves with the case against DR Congo.
If nobody follows the rule on nationality, then why shouldn’t Nigeria also start paying people and giving them passports to play for them? DRC did not follow its own rules for nationality, DRC could have chosen to alter its nationality rules, but instead they chose to deceive FIFA.
According to FIFA Article 5, Congolese players born abroad are eligible to obtain a nationality [by virtue of parent’s nationality, grandparents nationality etc.] but do not hold a nationality until through an operation of a national law they receive nationality without “being required to undertake any further administrative requirements (e.g. abandoning a separate nationality)”.
However, Congolese law does not permit dual nationality and requires the further administrative requirement of renouncing any other nationality before conferment of DR Congo nationality.
Article 10, DR Congo Constitution 2006 states, “Congolese nationality is one and exclusive, it cannot be combined with any other” also Article 1 of Law No. 04/024 of November 12, 2004 that governs the conditions for the recognition, acquisition, loss and restoration of nationality states Congolese nationality is singular and exclusive. It cannot be held concurrently with another nationality
Note that eligibility to obtain nationality merely qualifies the player to apply for nationality, explicit in the application for nationality is that it occurs through an operation of national law
An operation of national law has to be in accordance with the correct, proper and normal course of the application of national laws.
FIFA even goes further, it explicitly states, “receive nationality without being required to undertake any further administrative requirements”.
Here, FIFA is stating in Article 5, that players should comply with any further administrative requirements, and Article 5 offers explicit examples, such as abandoning a separate nationality
The Commentary on FIFA Article 5 rules (Pg 10) clarifies the issue, Where the relevant national law provides a substantial precondition to be met prior to the automatic grant of nationality (e.g. to abandon another nationality), this will be considered a further administrative requirement
Clearly, none of the fielded foreign-born Congolese players renounced their foreign nationality in order to comply with this administrative requirement of Congolese “nationality” laws. Therefore their Congolese nationality was fraudulently obtained, because its conferment did not comply with the operation of Congolese Nationality laws as required by FIFA article 5.
On the basis of article 5 (where applicable, read together with article 6 or 7) DR Congo football association “has a responsibility to verify the eligibility” of any player wishing to change “sporting nationality”.
DR Congo FA thus bares sole responsibility for fielding ineligible players in an international match
As an internet commentator succinctly put it, You tell the world who you are, and the world takes you for who you are. DRC told the world who a Congolese is, and so be it
PUNISHMENT PRECEDENT: Bolivia was sanctioned [ruled that matches be forfeited and victories awarded to Bolivia’s opponents] during 2018 World Cup qualifying for fielding Nelson Cabrera, a Paraguayan-born player who had not met the mandatory five-year residency required for naturalization.
I hope this nonpayment brouhaha does not affect the team at the AFCON.
No wonder a team like SA, composed of mainly home based players, were able to win the world cup qualifying group ahead of us. A team of average players.
How did they achieve this? The answer? Competent administrators.
While they have top notch, proactive, driven administrators, we are stuck with a useless nonsense of a football federation. Bunch of incompetent, inept, grossly corrupt miscreants.
Is it not criminal for someone to work and be denied/refused his compensation? That’s fraudulent. The money is there to pay the coach and the players. Why oh why have they not been paid?
This disrespectful treatment of our coaches and players contributes to the poor performance of the team, because it lowers morale.
If Chelle resigns due to nonpayment, he will sue NFF in FIFA court, and NFF will have to cough out every penny due to him per his contract, with interest. What Rohr did to them is about to happen all over again. All because these people continue to refuse to pay coaches and players. We have a football federation that insists on pocketing the salary of the coach and players bonuses.
Going forward, any money coming from FIFA should be held for us in trust by FIFA. Giving it to this NFF board is tantamount to throwing it away. Hold it for us, and let us make request as needed, providing full justification for each and every request. FIFA should help us pay our coach and the players when due. They can bill us for this service, and deduct their charge from our funds. We don’t mind. The money should only be released to us when a trusted NFF board is voted into office.
Right again, Pompeii! You are far better than other pundits here.