Former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has raised concerns that FIFA have yet to decide on South Africa playing an ineligible player in their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho.
“It is not normal that we don’t know the situation about the points on the log table before our games this week,” said Rohr, now coach of Benin, who are second behind South Africa in the standings.
“It is very, very strange. Normally, South Africa should lose three points, and they should go to Lesotho. But nobody knows why they (FIFA) did not take this decision.”
South Africa were severely embarrassed when they belatedly discovered the mistake but insist because their opponents did not protest, they will not lose the three points.
“We did something bad, we did something we shouldn’t do, but there was no complaint,” said South Africa coach Hugo Broos this week when again questioned on the matter.
But FIFA’s Disciplinary Code makes provisions for proceedings to be instigated by the administration of world football’s governing body, not only via protest, and they have previously sanctioned countries which have committed the same offence.
The rules state: “If a person receives a caution in two separate matches of the same FIFA competition, they are automatically suspended from the next match in that competition.”
The disciplinary code also adds: “If a team fields a player who is not eligible to participate (due to suspension, registration issues, nationality, etc.), the match is automatically forfeited. The default result is a 3–0 loss, unless the actual result was even more disadvantageous to the offending team.”
