FIFA Bans Nigeria Stadium From Hosting International Matches

World football governing body FIFA, has slammed an indefinite ban on MKO Abiola Stadium Abuja from hosting international matches.

This is coming after the death of Joseph Kabungo, a medical doctor from Zambia, who died during a stampede after Nigeria fans invaded the Moshood Abiola National Stadium pitch, following a 1-1 draw with the Black Stars on Tuesday, March 29th.

Kabungo was the Confederation of African Football (CAF) doping control officer for the Super Eagles and Black Stars game at the MKO Abiola stadium.

He died after violence erupted at the end of the match in Abuja.

The stalemate at the Abuja Stadium meant the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar due to the away goal rule, despite earning a 1-1 aggregate scoreline in the double-header.

While Ghana fans were celebrating the qualification after the match, thousands of disappointed Nigeria fans started raining plastic bottles on the pitch, not even the Black Stars players were spared.

The angry supporters later invaded the pitch and proceeded to attack Ghanaian players and fans, destroying properties in the Stadium in the process.

The substitute benches were smashed by the fans, who demanded the immediate sack of the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick.

“Pinnick must go! Pinnick must go!!” the mob sang, as others asked for the removal of the Eagles’ gaffer, Augustine Eguavoen too.

Eguavoen has anyways, tendered his resignation as the head coach of the Super Eagles today.

The Police later came in to quash the protest, firing several rounds of tear gas canisters into the air to disperse the angry protesters.

It is not clear what other sanctions FIFA and the regional body CAF could mete out to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, for failing to provide adequate security for the game but the too bodies frown at fans encroachment into the field of play.

It could be recalled that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) disciplinary committee in May 2006 sanctioned Nigeria with a $5,000 for poor crowd control at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, where the Super Eagles hosted Egypt in a Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier in March.

The organisers of the match allowed a crowd of over 40,000 inside the stadium designed to hold 25,000 spectators.

The Super Eagles and the Pharaohs drew 1-1 in that encounter, with the Egyptians subsequently defeating Nigeria 1-0 in the return fixture to stop the Eagles from qualifying for the competition.