World Cup: FIFA Confirms DR Congo In Play-Off Tournament, Dashes Super Eagles’ Hope
FIFA on Wednesday dashed the hope of Nigeria Super Eagles playing in the World Cup with confirmation of the final line-up for the inter-confederation play-off tournament, naming DR Congo as Africa’s representative.
In an accreditation notice circulated to journalists ahead of the competition, FIFA detailed the tournament format and listed the six participating nations.
DR Congo’s inclusion leaves no room for Nigeria, whose football federation had challenged the result of their defeat in the CAF play-offs in November 2025.
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The Nigeria Football Federation lodged a formal protest, alleging that DR Congo fielded ineligible players during the decisive tie, which ended 1-1 and went to penalties, where Nigeria lost.
The appeal sought to overturn the result and secure the Super Eagles’ place in the inter-continental play-offs.
Confirming the development in a statement, FIFA said, “The FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament will see six teams fight it out for the final two places at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, to be staged in Canada, Mexico and the United States across 16 Host Cities.”
“All of the six teams have now been decided, with Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname confirmed as qualifiers.”
The play-off tournament gets underway on March 26.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
