Hope rises for Benin Republic as CAS sticks to FIFA’s decision on E’Guinea’s player

Benin’s German head coach Gernot Rohr gestures from the technical area during the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Group D qualification football match between Nigeria and Benin at the Houphouet Boigny stadium in Abidjan, on November 14, 2024. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)

World sports adjudication body, Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), yesterday, raised Benin Republic’s hopes of qualifying for their first World Cup when it stuck to FIFA’s decision to deduct three points and three goals from Equatorial Guinea for fielding an ineligible player in the ongoing 2026 World Cup African qualifying series.

Benin Republic is hoping that either FIFA or CAS will apply the same standard against Group C leaders, South Africa, which fielded Teboho Mokoena in a game against Lesotho when the player was supposed to miss the game after getting two yellow cards in previous games.

South Africa lead Group C with 17 points, while Benin Republic are second on 14 points, which means that both teams would be on 14 points, with the Cheetahs top on goals difference, if FIFA applies the rules against the Bafana Bafana.

That would pave way for a potential ticket decider when they clash in Bloemfontein in the last round of games in the series.

CAS yesterday dismissed Equatorial Guinea’s appeal to overturn a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player in two 2026 World Cup qualifying wins.

The Central Africans beat both Namibia and Liberia 1-0 in November 2023, but FIFA awarded their opponents technical 3-0 wins six months later because the National Thunder fielded Emilio Nsue, who scored the winner in both games.

To the surprise of many, football’s world governing body declared in May 2024 that Nsue was ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea despite the forward having appeared regularly for the national side over the previous decade.

At the time, FIFA said it was “comfortably satisfied” that Nsue – who had won the golden boot at the Africa Cup of Nations just three months earlier – had never received clearance to formalise his switch from Spain, who he had represented at youth level.

After FIFA officially cleared Nsue to play for the country in March this year, the country’s football federation (Feguifut) appealed for the return of the six World Cup qualifying points it had forfeited.

Such a scenario would have been crucial to Equatorial Guinea’s hopes of reaching a first World Cup, given they would have moved from fifth place up to second in Group H, whose automatic berth for the 2026 finals has already been secured by Tunisia.

However, the ruling by CAS, sport’s highest legal body, means that second place in the group – which could secure qualification for a continental play-off round – remains in Namibia’s hands. With just two qualifiers left, the Brave Warriors’ 15 points are four better than Liberia, who have also benefited from CAS’ decision.