NFF Admits Error In Super Eagles Captain, Ahmed Musa’s Appearance Figure
After Nigeria’s victory over Cape Verde on Tuesday, President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, in a video, claimed that the Super Eagles captain has played his 100th game for the national team.
He had said, “First of all, I want you to put your hands together for our captain, Ahmed Musa. Today, he marks his 100th cap for the Super Eagles. It’s not an easy feat, and on behalf of the Nigerian football federation, from today, once your mark your 100th cap, you get 10 million Naira”.
However, FIFA disputed the claims by the Nigerian Football Federation that Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa has made 100 appearances for the national team.
According to the world football governing body, Musa has featured for Nigeria in 98 games. FIFA said Musa will hit 100 caps possibly in Nigeria’s double-header against the Central Africa Republic next month.
The Nigeria Football Federation has admitted error in its earlier counting of Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa’s record.
The Federation said FIFA was right in its counting, in a statement titled, ‘NFF defers to FIFA on Ahmed Musa’s record’.
NFF’s Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire said Musa has 98 caps. If he features, as expected, in the home-and-away matches against the Central African Republic in October, he will clock the tally of 100 and the celebrations will follow in full flow.
FIFA said on Tuesday that Musa’s appearances in the 3-0 defeat of Togo in a friendly match in Paris in June 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifier against Algeria in Constantine in November 2017 did not count.
The match against Togo was struck off as both Nigeria and Togo made more than the regular number of changes in the game, while the encounter in Constantine, which ended 1-1, was deleted because Nigeria fielded an ineligible player and the result was overturned, with Algeria awarded the game, even as Nigeria had already picked the World Cup ticket before the tie.