The Congolese Football Federation is allegedly doing everything within their powers to hand twist FIFA into rulling in their favour as the World Football Governing body meets on Monday February 16, to decide on the petition filed by the Nigeria football federation on the eligibility of six Congolese players in last year’s FIFA 2026 Africa World Cup play-offs.
Véron Mosengo-Omba, the General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) appointed in March 2021, is a Swiss-Congolese national born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He previously worked as the Chief Member Associations Officer at FIFA before taking the role of CAF’s General Secretary four years ago. He is also a close associate of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
According to very reliable sources, Omba and a few other top football executives from Congo and some Francophone countries are allegedly using their strong influence in FIFA to lobby for a favourable decision in this matter.
They know the seriousness of the petition and are scared that FIFA could decide in favour of Nigeria based on leaked information and available evidences.
FIFA on their part, is convinced that Nigeria has presented a very strong case and will not want to do anything that will rubbish their reputation, knowing that the Nigeria football federation and the Congolese Football Federation, might want to proceed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lucerne Switzerland, if decisions do not go in their favour.
For that reason, they have taken time to carefully look at the matter before them and could take a decision at their next meeting on Monday February 16.
In September last year, CAF General Secretary, Mosengo-Omba was accused of having “repeatedly obtained bonuses” five times higher than the maximum allowed in his employment contract with the Confederation of African Football but was later cleared of any wrong doing after thorough investigation.
His influence in Africa and World football will come handy for Congo as the Nation looks forward to Monday’s ruling that could decide who picks Africa’s sole ticket for next month’s intercontinental play-off against the winner of Jamaica and New Caledonia.
On their part, the Nigeria football federation and the National Sports commission are not losing any sleep on this matter. They are confident that they have done thorough investigation and provided the necessary documents and evidences to FIFA.
They also believe that the recent FIFA verdict on Malaysia is a clear indication that the world football governing body does not joke with anything that has to do with players eligibility, especially when there are documented evidences of discrepancies and falsification.
Written by Wale Ajayi
