/ 24 April 2000

NIGERIA DEMAND BAN FOR STAY-AWAY BABAYARO

NIGERIA have asked Fifa to ban Celestine Babayaro of English club Chelsea after the defender stayed away from last weekend’s World Cup qualifier against Eritrea. ”Coach Jo Bonfrere has recommended that we get Fifa to sanction Chelsea from fielding Babayaro in their next two games for refusing to honour our invitation for the match against Eritrea last Saturday,” the secretary general of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Tijjani Yusuf, said here on Monday. ”We will comply with Bonfrere’s recommendations because we have genuine reasons to sanction both Chelsea and the player in this case.” Chelsea refused to release Babayaro for the final Olympic qualifier against Zimbabwe last month after receiving the NFA’s application for the player’s release late.