The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have made an adjustment in the number of caps fleet-footed forward, Ahmed Musa has had for the Super Eagles.
The NFF has now made the required adjustment having released a statement on Wednesday that it has deferred to FIFA’s own record of 98 caps for the Super Eagles’ captain.
This is following the nullification of two of the matches he played in which should have taken his tally of appearances to 100.
“We defer to FIFA in this regard, so Ahmed Musa has 98 caps,” said the NFF release.
“If he features, as expected, in the home-and-away matches against the Central African Republic in October, he will clock the tally of 100 and the celebrations will follow in full flow,” NFF’s Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, added on Wednesday.
FIFA said on Tuesday that Musa’s appearances in the 3-0 defeat of Togo in a friendly match in Paris in June 2017 and the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifier against Algeria in Constantine in November 2017 did not count.
The match against Togo was struck off as both Nigeria and Togo made more than the regular number of changes in the game, while the encounter in Constantine, which ended 1-1, was deleted because Nigeria fielded an ineligible player and the result was overturned, with Algeria awarded the game, even as Nigeria had already picked the World Cup ticket before the tie.
Already the NFF President Amaju Pinnick has said Musa will get a N10 million reward once he joins the exclusive list of centurions with the national team.
Pinnick made the disclosure after Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde.
Pinnick commended the leadership and patriotic nature of Musa even as he added that similar gestures will be extended to those who make it to the ‘100 club’.
On his part, Musa has promised to split into two his expected N10 million largesse from the NFF with his teammates.
“Without my teammates, I cannot be what I am today, I will be giving N5million to the team from the N10million I am to receive” Musa stated.
