World football body, FIFA, on Monday slammed Nigeria the whooping sum of N63.9 million following violence that erupted at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on March 29, after the country’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA also ordered the country to play their next international match behind closed doors.
Though, the world football governing body gave room for appeal.
Recall that hundreds of fans stormed the football pitch, destroying the technical area and VIP section of the stadium after Nigeria played a 1-1 draw against Ghana, which saw the Super Eagles crash out of 2022 World Cup based on the away goal rule.
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, in their summary jurisdiction over incidents that occurred during the World Cup qualifiers, delivered the sanctions in a letter updated on April 28.
According to FIFA, Nigeria’s fines were a result of failure to implement “Order and security at matches (failure to implement existing safety rules and failure to ensure that law and order are maintained in the stadium, invasion of the field of play and throwing of objects).”
The violence, according to FIFA, breached Article 16 of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
A total of 49 countries were either fined or warned by FIFA for misconduct during the qualifiers.