FIFA has punished Equatorial Guinea with a points deduction and their star player Emilio Nsue with a long ban over eligibility issues.
The world governing body ruled that Nsue, who was the top scorer at the AFCON 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in February with five goals, was fielded by Equatorial Guinea in 2026 World Cup qualifying matches despite being ineligible.
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has rendered its decisions in relation to proceedings opened against both the Equatorial Guinean Football Association (FEGUIFUT) and the player Emilio Nsue López with regards to the latter’s participation in several matches of the national team of Equatorial Guinea, including two matches in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition, despite being ineligible,” the body announced today.
“After considering all elements brought before it, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee was comfortably satisfied that the player was ineligible and consequently decided to declare the matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition in which the player was fielded (namely Equatorial Guinea v. Namibia and Liberia v. Equatorial Guinea played on 15 November 2023 and 20 November 2023, respectively) lost by forfeit by Equatorial Guinea (by a score of 3-0).
“In addition, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed the following sanctions: a fine amounting to 150,000 Swiss francs upon FEGUIFUT; and
a six-month ban from playing for any representative team of any association upon the player Emilio Nsue López.”
FIFA added that the Equatorial Guinea FA and Nsue were informed of the decisions today and have up to 10 days to appeal.
Equatorial Guinea won their first two World Cup qualifiers in Group H in November, beating Namibia 1-0 at home and Liberia 1-0 away, but the Central Africans are now pointless with a six-goal deficit following the FIFA ruling.
Nsue, 34, currently plays his club football with Spanish third-tier club Inter City but has played for some well-known clubs in his long career, including Mallorca, Real Sociedad, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City.
He is Equatorial Guinea’s captain and has scored 22 goals in 43 appearances for the country after initially playing for Spain at youth levels.
