Scandalous scorelines: FIFA awaits NFF action

NFF President Aminu Maigari

FIFA says it is interested in the scandalous results from  the games involving  two Nigerian  amateur league clubs– Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine – on Monday.

The two matches produce an incredible 146 goals.

Plateau United Feeders crushed Akurba 79-0 while Police Machine demolished Babayaro 67-0 in the fifth tier  promotion playoffs. Plateau United Feeders scored 72 goals in the second half while Police Machine netted 61 after the break.

 The two teams vying for a single promotion spot had gone into the final round-robin matches equal on points and goal difference.

The scores were the biggest seen in African football since Madagascar’s AS Adema won 149-0 in a 2002 match where losing side Stade Olympique l’Emyrne scored numerous own goals in protest at a refereeing decision.

The Nigeria Football Federation  suspended indefinitely  the winning sides and their beaten opponents and launched an investigation into the incident it termed “a mind-boggling show of shame never previously witnessed in Nigerian football”.

“It is unacceptable, this is a scandal of huge proportions,” NFF Vice-President Mike Umeh told reporters on Tuesday.

“The four teams involved are suspended immediately and indefinitely pending further sanctions. We will investigate this matter thoroughly and get to the bottom of it.”

“We have reported the matter to police as it is a criminal matter,” the NFF spokesman  Ademola Olajire, told CNN.

“They will do their due diligence, and we will also do our own investigation. The results of our investigation are likely to result in very, very severe penalties for all involved. The clubs may be banned for life.”

 But FIFA said on Friday it has been monitoring  the development.

“The matter is firstly the responsibility of the Nigerian Football  (Federation),” FIFA told CNN in a statement.

 “Therefore FIFA is currently monitoring the situation and waiting for action taken by the Nigerian  (federation).”

Meanwhile,  Olajire dismissed the reports that the world football body had  queried the Nigerian body over the scandal.

“We’ve not seen anything like that and nobody from FIFA has contacted us over the matter,” Olajire told our correspondent on the telephone on Friday.

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