World Cup: Good night to Goodluck and his Nigerian suspension
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Remember all that righteous indignation on the part of Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria, who promised to suspend his country’s national soccer program after the team finished last in its group at the World Cup?
Well, never mind.
Jonathan has dropped the idea, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press. Or, more accurately, he was talked out of the idea. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, told him to change his mind by Monday night or face harsh sanctions.
FIFA regulations forbid governments from interfering in national soccer programs, and FIFA has suspended countries for breaking the rules -- a ban that extends to club teams, referees and officials. A presidential spokesman said Wednesday that Jonathan wanted the Super Eagles suspended for two years to allow Nigerian soccer to be restructured after it left the World Cup with one point in three matches.
Earlier Monday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said at a news conference that his organization had taken ‘all adequate steps’ to resolve the dispute.
‘We do hope that everything comes back to normal,’ Blatter said.
FIFA dispatched Nigeria’s most senior soccer official -- Amos Adamu, a member of the governing body’s 24-man executive committee -- to mediate with the Nigerian government.
Nigeria is due to send a team to the FIFA under-20 Women’s World Cup, which kicks off next week in Germany.
Nigerian club Heartland also stood to lose its place in the African Champions League if it could not play a home game against Egypt’s Al-Ahly scheduled for next week.
The suspension threat by Nigeria’s government also followed corruption allegations that plagued the team before the World Cup. Presidential spokesman Ima Niboro said last week that all funds directed toward the Nigeria Football Federation would be examined and that ‘all those found wanting will be sanctioned.’ FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot could not confirm Monday if Nigeria’s federation had been paid any of the $8 million in prize money that it was due from FIFA for taking part in the World Cup.
On Sunday, the federation fired its president and vice president in an effort to persuade the Nigerian president to drop the suspension threat.
-- Kevin Baxter in Durban, South Africa
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photos, from top: Nigeria’s Chidi Odiah, left, Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi in Nigeria’s match against Greece on June 17, 2010, at Free State stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Credit: Nuno Veiga / EPA. Goodluck Jonathan in May 2010. Credit: Remy de la Mauviniere / Associated Press