NFF Appeals CAF Decision, Demands Edo Queens Victory Stand
By Reporter
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has formally appealed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decision to annul Edo Queens’ victory in the WAFU-B Women’s Champions League final, arguing that the Nigerian champions should not bear the consequences of an error allegedly committed by the match officials.
The dispute arose from the final against Ghana’s Ampem Darkoa Ladies, which ended 2-2 after regulation time before Edo Queens won the ensuing penalty shoot-out. CAF subsequently annulled the result after determining that the required extra time under Article 72.4 of the regulations had not been played.
In its appeal, the NFF maintained that Edo Queens neither requested nor caused the penalty shoot-out, but simply followed the instructions of the referee.
The federation argued that there was no finding that Edo Queens had engaged in misconduct, manipulation, bad faith or any deliberate breach of the competition regulations.
According to the NFF, the central issue is the distinction between correcting a procedural irregularity and imposing its sporting consequences on a team that played no role in causing it.
“The Committee therefore acted unfairly by holding Edo Queens responsible for a referee’s administrative error,” the NFF stated in its appeal.
The federation stressed that Edo Queens did not ask for extra time to be cancelled, refuse to play the additional 30 minutes or insist that the final proceed directly to penalties.
“Edo Queens did not misrepresent the Regulations to the referee or otherwise induce the referee to depart from Article 72.4. Rather, once the referee directed the teams to proceed to penalties, Edo Queens complied,” the NFF argued.
The Nigerian federation also rejected the argument that Edo Queens’ victory in the shoot-out somehow made the club responsible for the circumstances that produced it.
“The fact that Edo Queens ultimately won the shoot-out cannot retrospectively convert its compliance with the referee’s instruction into responsibility for the regulatory breach,” the NFF said.
“There is an important distinction between benefiting from an official’s error and causing or procuring the error.”
The NFF further questioned the legal basis for CAF’s decision to annul the shoot-out and order the final to resume 30 minutes later.
While acknowledging that the organising committee had jurisdiction to investigate complaints and determine whether the procedure complied with Article 72.4, the federation argued that such jurisdiction did not automatically empower the committee to impose any remedy it deemed appropriate.
“The critical question for appeal is therefore: What specific provision of the Regulations authorises the Committee, in circumstances where neither team caused the irregularity, to annul the result of a penalty shoot-out and require the match to resume thirty minutes later?” the NFF asked.
The federation noted that the committee itself had established that the failure to play extra time resulted from an erroneous administrative instruction and that neither Edo Queens nor Ampem Darkoa was responsible for the omission.
It also pointed out that the referee was found to have acted in good faith.
On that basis, the NFF argued that Edo Queens was an innocent participant that complied with an official directive and should not suffer the sporting consequences of an error it did not cause.
The federation also contended that Edo Queens should have been given a meaningful opportunity to present its case before the shoot-out was annulled and the outcome of the final altered.
The NFF is therefore asking CAF to review the decision and restore the original outcome, under which Edo Queens defeated Ampem Darkoa on penalties after the 2-2 draw.
