The Nigeria Super Eagles with their gaffer, Eric Chelle (C) in green top
Ahead of the intercontinental playoffs in weeks from now, to determine the remaining qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the hope of the Nigeria Super Eagles to be lone Africa representative has finally vanished.
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This is as the World Football governing body: Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Wednesday, 4 March , 2026 confirmed the final line-up for the inter-confederation play-off tournament, naming DR Congo instead of Nigeria’s Super Eagles as Africa’s representative.
According to viral media reports online, an accreditation notice circulated to journalists ahead of the competition, FIFA detailed the tournament format and listed the six participating nations including the DR Congo.
Nigeria football administrators; NFF had challenged the result of their defeat by the DR Congo in the CAF play-offs in November 2025.
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The Nigeria Football Federation in a formal protest to FIFA, alleged DR Congo fielded ineligible players during the decisive tie, which ended 1-1 with Nigeria losing via penalties.
The NFF petition sought to overturn the result and secure the Super Eagles’ place in the inter-continental play-offs.
But the efforts now seem unfruitful with FIFA’s latest official statement.
The statement reads; “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.
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