2024 Africa Cup of Nations top scorer (5 goals) Emilio Nsue, played illegally for Equatorial Guinea for eleven years, according to FIFA documents detailing the six-month ban handed to him last month last.
This improbable information draws its source from the decision of the FIFA disciplinary committee concerning the status of the player, rendered on May 10 and published this Monday. The current scorer for Intercity (Spanish D3) should not have represented Equatorial Guinea. He had already been sanctioned, although his request for a change of nationality had been rejected. Despite this, his selection continued to play him before FIFA finally intervened, eleven years after their decision to reject his request.
FIFA rejects Nsue’s request for change of nationality
The 34-year-old striker, born in Palma de Mallorca to a Spanish mother and an Equatorial Guinean father, represented Spain in the youth categories, notably distinguishing himself during the U20 World Cup in 2009. As a reminder, players who represent a country at youth level can request to change their international allegiance as long as they have not played a match in official competition with the A’s and as long as they have dual nationality. But FIFA refused Nsue’s transfer request because he had only obtained Equatorial Guinean citizenship after already playing at youth team level for Spain.
By then, the striker had already played twice for the former Spanish colony in 2014 World Cup qualifying and Equatorial Guinea had been fined. Despite these decisions, Nsue continued to play for Equatorial Guinea, notably during qualifying for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also participated in three editions of the CAN.
FIFA has not explained why it suddenly reconsidered Nsue’s status, but on May 24 it stripped Equatorial Guinea of the six points it had earned in its two World Cup qualifying matches. 2026 last November (against Namibia and Liberia). Nsue had also scored the winning goal during these two matches. He was banned for six months from international football, although he had already announced his international retirement after the CAN in January. “FIFA did not respond to questions regarding this apparent administrative error,” Reuters points out.
2024-06-03 20:16:51
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