FIFA Emergency Committee v. Nigeria Football Federation (2014)

Following Nigeria's exit from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Nigerian government moved against the Nigeria Football Federation's (NFF) leadership. NFF president Aminu Maigari was arrested over an incident involving player payments during the tournament, and a Nigerian court subsequently issued an order compelling the Minister of Sports to appoint a senior civil servant to take over running the federation.

The FIFA Emergency Committee found this to be government interference in breach of Article 13, paragraph 1, and Article 17, paragraph 1 of the FIFA Statutes, which require member associations to manage their own affairs independently of any third party. On 9 July 2014, FIFA suspended the NFF with immediate effect.

The suspension barred any Nigerian team, at any level including clubs, from international sporting contact of any kind under Article 14, paragraph 3 of the FIFA Statutes. Its most immediate practical consequence fell on Nigeria's women's team, which faced exclusion from the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Canada, scheduled to begin the following month, unless the suspension was lifted by 15 July.

FIFA set a clear, narrow condition for lifting the suspension: withdrawal of the court actions, so that the NFF's properly elected Executive Committee, general assembly, and administration could resume working without interference.

That condition was met quickly. The NFF wrote to FIFA on 17 July 2014 confirming compliance, and FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke responded the next day, 18 July, stating that statutory order had been reinstated at the NFF and lifting the suspension with immediate effect, reinstating all of the federation's membership rights under Article 12 of the FIFA Statutes. The whole episode, from suspension to reinstatement, lasted just nine days — and Nigeria's under-20 women's team went on to compete in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada as originally scheduled, without missing the tournament the suspension had briefly threatened.