Last November, the DR Congo filed a complaint with Caf after the defeat against Sudan (1-0) on behalf of the second day of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. Winger Jusif Ali, who was then playing his major first with the Nile Crocodiles, is accused by the Leopards of having played with a Finnish passport. In other words, the player, unemployed since the start of the year, was ineligible.
If this accusation were to prove true, the DRC would benefit from a victory on the green carpet (3-0). Which would result in a reversal of its third place (7 points) with the leadership chair occupied by Sudan (10 points), just ahead of Senegal (8 points).
During a new media release, Dodo Nlandu, the team manager of the Congolese selection, took stock of this issue and expressed his confidence in the future of events.
“The player was not allowed to play with a Finnish passport. It is therefore a Finnish player who played with Sudan. As it was not a friendly match, the texts stipulate that there is an infringement. We, for our part, placed a reservation and had the denunciation noted 24 hours later. The problem was with the IT department of our Federation which dragged on. We are in the process of relaunching the denunciation. We are still in the process, but as soon as the documents are sent, I think we will win our case. We simply based ourselves on the texts of the regulations,” he assured.
It remains to be seen whether the setbacks caused by this administrative blunder will not harm the Congolese in this appeal…
An apparently authentic document, which circulated on the Web, nevertheless attested that Fifa had validated the change of sporting nationality of Jusif Ali at the request of the Sudanese Federation, and this, since November 18, i.e. on D-2 as a result. sending the match. If this were to prove true, the DRC’s appeal would have to be rejected. To be continued…
With afrik-foot
