The Nigeria Football Federation has appealed the Confederation of African Football’s decision to annul Edo Queens’ victory over Ghanaian champions Ampem Darkoa Ladies in the WAFU-B final.
The appeal, filed on behalf of Edo Queens on Tuesday, challenges CAF’s ruling that the September 5 final in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, should resume from extra time after the original match ended 2-2 following regulation time.
Edo Queens had initially been crowned WAFU-B champions after defeating Ampem Darkoa 4-1 on penalties, securing the zone’s ticket to the CAF Women’s Champions League.
However, Ampem Darkoa lodged a protest, prompting CAF to rule that the match should have gone through two periods of extra time before penalties, in accordance with Article 72.4 of the competition regulations.
The NFF, in its appeal, argued that Edo Queens should not be penalised for an error made by the match officials, stressing that the Nigerian players neither requested nor caused the decision to proceed directly to a penalty shoot-out.
According to the federation, Edo Queens simply followed the referee’s instructions and took part in the shoot-out in good faith. It also noted that CAF had made no finding of misconduct, manipulation or bad faith against the Nigerian champions.
The NFF argued that benefiting from an official’s error is fundamentally different from causing or deliberately influencing that error.
“The fact that Edo Queens ultimately won the shoot-out cannot retrospectively convert its compliance with the referee’s instruction into responsibility for the regulatory breach,” the federation argued.
It further questioned CAF’s authority to annul a completed penalty shoot-out and order the final to resume from extra time when neither participating team was responsible for the procedural mistake.
The federation also maintained that any corrective measure imposed by CAF must have a clear basis in the competition regulations and should be proportionate to the irregularity established.
The NFF has therefore asked the CAF Appeals Committee to overturn the ruling and restore Edo Queens’ 4-1 penalty-shoot-out victory.
The federation insists that the sporting outcome should be preserved because Edo Queens complied with the match officials’ instructions and played the shoot-out without any misconduct.
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