Football governing body Fifa on Monday indicated that its ultimatum for Nigeria to reverse its decision to ban the national football team from international matches following its poor showing at the World Cup stood.
Fifa announced on Friday it had given Nigeria until 6pm with Fifa spokesperson Nicolas Maingot saying a letter had been sent to the Nigerian Football Federation on setting the deadline to reverse the decision or face “the suspension of the Nigerian federation”.
“We have no further information at this stage. The deadline is until 6 pm,” a Fifa spokesperson said.
“We have to wait until the deadline, which is at 6pm. If there is no indication or if the suspension is confirmed, we’ll confirm certainly by a media release,” the spokesperson said.
Traditional African powerhouse Nigeria finished bottom of their group in South Africa with just one point from three matches.
Last week, Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said he would meet the Nigerian executive member representing Nigeria at Fifa to discuss the decision.
“Nigeria went too far and Nigeria will be suspended if they don’t change their position in the next 48 hours,” Valcke told Talk Radio 702.
“You can’t allow a government to say all national teams can’t play anymore in any international tournaments.” He said the decision to suspend Nigeria would be in line with the governing body’s efforts to retain the independence of football from political interference. — Sapa-AFP