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Nigeria will not play at the 2026 World Cup after they were beaten 4-3 on penalties by DR Congo in a qualifying play-off.
Nigeria's Frank Onyeka scored early (3’) before Meschak Elia equalised (32’) as the match finished 1-1 over 120 minutes.
DR Congo held their nerve in the shootout in Rabat, Morocco and progress to the inter-confederation play-offs in March 2026.
After the match, Nigeria manager Eric Chelle confronted several DR Congo staff members and had to be separated.
Chelle then alleged DR Congo players had used ‘voodoo’ during the penalties, something a DR Congo representative later denied.
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Nigeria coach Eric Chelle alleges DR Congo players practiced ‘voodoo’ during penalty shootout
At the end of his press conference, Chelle asked reporters why they had not brought up the incident.
Chelle, speaking French, then presented his version of events: “DR Congo guys were doing maraboutage” (technically a Muslim holy man, marabout has connotations of a north African witch doctor).
Chelle, 48, later doubled down on his claims then went to the mix-zone where he repeated the claim in English: “During all of the penalties, the players of Congo were doing some voodoo.”
A representative of DR Congo denied Chelle’s claims when asked by The Athletic.
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Nigeria coach Eric Chelle alleges DR Congo players practiced ‘voodoo’ during penalty shootout
Nigeria’s head coach Eric Chelle has alleged that DR Congo’s players were practicing “voodoo” during their penalty shootout victory over his side on Sunday.
When Chancel Mbemba scored the winning penalty, Chelle confronted several members of DR Congo’s staff including the head coach Sebastien Desabre.
He had to be separated from them by members of Nigeria’s backroom team.
Desabre appeared first for his post-match press conference and said that the altercation was “not an issue”.
William Troost-Ekong says he is “devastated” after Nigeria failed to qualify for the World Cup inter-confederation play-offs but “this team has a bright future.”
Calvin Bassey briefly stopped and said a few words too.
Now, onto Eric Chelle…
Now!
We have some surprising news from Rabat, Morocco, as The Athletic's Jay Harris has attended the press conferences of both managers and listened to what they have had to say in the mixed zone.
And Nigeria's Eric Chelle was not happy!
And for DR Congo, AFCON is also in their sights, with a reasonably tough group standing in their path to glory.
They will play heavyweights Senegal, plus Benin and Botswana in the group stage.
As Nancy mentioned earlier, the prospect of AFCON (the Africa Cup of Nations), also in Morocco, just a few weeks away is looming large.
Nigeria will be looking to go one better than last time, where they finished runners-up to Ivory Coast.
They will face Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in the group stage.
Eric Chelle said that Victor Osimhen was substituted at half-time because he felt discomfort in the back of his leg.
More as we have it.
After the six participants are confirmed, they will be split into seeded and unseeded teams and into two separate pathways.
The two highest FIFA-ranked sides (Nigeria would have been one, if they had won) will be seeded and move straight on to the final of each pathway.
The unseeded teams will consist of a pair of single-leg semi-finals, with the two winners advancing to the final.
The two final winners will be the 47th and 48th nations at the 2026 men’s World Cup.
DR Congo have successfully completed the CAF (African football) World Cup qualifying play-offs and are now into the inter-confederation play-offs.
New Caledonia, from Oceania, and South American side Bolivia have also qualified for the inter-continental play-offs.
In Asia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq are at 1-1 after their first leg and the second leg in Basra on Tuesday, November 18 will decide which team makes it through for the Asian confederation.
As the host confederation, CONCACAF will be represented twice in the play-offs by the two best runners-up from the third round of qualifying. Curacao and Costa Rica are the teams currently occupying those positions.
Short and sweet from Nigeria's official account on X.
The Athletic outlines all the key talking points, below.
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DR Congo beat Nigeria on penalties to reach a World Cup play-off: Fredrick’s tough task, Osimhen missed
What an outstanding shootout from DR Congo goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu.
The 26-year-old, in just his second cap, came up huge at the pressure moments despite only coming on with seconds to go before full time.
He made two saves and helped put off some of the other takers, too, with a sizeable presence between the sticks.
Heroic.
Nigeria qualified for six of the seven World Cups between 1994 and 2018.
After failing to qualify in 2022, tonight's defeat means they will miss consecutive World Cups for the first time since 1990.
When you consider that there could be double the amount of African teams next summer than there were in Qatar, this a huge failure from Eric Chelle and his players.
William Troost-Ekong and Akor Adams are in tears as Nigeria walk off the pitch.
Nigeria have ultimately been punished for a poor start to their qualification campaign.
Three draws and a defeat from their first four games.
They miss out on successive World Cups.
DR Congo captain Chancel Mbemba scored a last-minute winner for his nation to beat Cameroon in the semi-final and has now just scored the winning penalty for DR Congo to eliminate Nigeria in the final.
Not a bad three days for the centre-back.
Nigeria's head coach Eric Chelle had to be separated from DR Congo's coaching staff.
Emotions are understandably extremely high but DRC deserve to go through. They were the better side.
The squad are going absolutely wild in front of their supporters.
Mbemba, the captain who scored the winner against Cameroon in Thursday's semifinal, strikes again.
The players, the fans. They all look gutted.
The contrast in emotion so close on the field is stark.