World soccer ruling body FIFA has banned Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja indefinitely, following the pitch invasion by angry fans, the Stadium will not be used for international matches indefinitely.
This comes as a result of the ugly incident that followed the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of Ghana’s Black Stars.
The angry fans invaded the pitch, wreaking havoc and destroying the newly refurbished stadium.
Though, FIFA had indefinitely suspended the usage of the stadium, there are insinuations that Nigeria will still suffer further sanctions as FIFA and CAF are yet to meet to ascertain further sanctions to be meted out to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for failing to provide adequate security for the game.
It would be recalled that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Disciplinary Committee, in May 2006,sanctioned Nigeria with a $5,000 for poor crowd control at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, where the Super Eagles hosted Egypt in a Gabon 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier in March.
The organisers of the match allowed a crowd of over 40,000 inside the stadium designed to hold 25,000 spectators.
The Super Eagles and the Pharaohs drew 1-1 in that game, with the Egyptians subsequently defeating Nigeria 1-0 in the return fixture to stop the Eagles from qualifying for the competition.
Also at the 2000 African Cup of Nations tournament co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana, Nigeria was sanctioned by CAF following crowd encroachment on the pitch in the Quarter Final match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Teranga Lions of Senegal at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The game had gone on extra time with Julius Aghahowa scoring a goal that fans thought was a Golden goal.
In wild jubilation, they invaded the pitch before security operatives restored calm for the resumption of the match, however
Nigeria was heavily fined for that breach of security.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Super Eagles moved up two places in the latest World football governing body, FIFA, monthly ranking despite failing to qualify for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The former African champions are ranked the 30th best team in the world and they also retained their third place in Africa.