Equatorial Guinea’s request for the reversal of a points penalty due to the use of an ineligible player in matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

This African nation secured narrow victories against Namibia and Liberia with scores of 1-0 in November 2023. However, FIFA later awarded 3-0 technical wins to their opponents six months later, as Emilio Nsue, who scored in both victories, was deemed ineligible.

FIFA’s unexpected ruling in May 2024 revealed that Nsue was not authorized to represent Equatorial Guinea, despite his extensive appearance record for the national team over the last decade.

FIFA stated it was “comfortably satisfied” that the player, despite recently winning top scorer honors at the Africa Cup of Nations, did not have the necessary clearance for his transfer from Spain, for whom he had played at youth levels.

In March of this year, after he was cleared by FIFA, the Equatoguinean football federation (Feguifut) sought to reclaim the six points lost during World Cup qualification.

This reinterpretation was considered vital for Equatorial Guinea’s aspirations to qualify for a World Cup, as regaining those points would move them from fifth to second place in Group H, already claimed by Tunisia for a direct qualification slot.

However, the decision by CAS establishes that the race for second place in the group now lies with Namibia. With just two qualifying matches remaining, Namibia holds a four-point lead over Liberia, who also gained from the CAS ruling.

Both Malawi and Equatorial Guinea have ten points, leaving all four nations with a chance to finish second in the group.

The group stage of the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup will conclude next month, with the winners of November’s continental playoffs advancing to a final inter-confederation qualifying match in March of the following year.

Aside from Feguifut’s long-standing violations, the CAS found the appeal to be inadmissible due to administrative errors, including the absence of the Namibian FA (NFA) and the Liberian FA (LFA) in the appeal process.

FIFA contended that the opinions of these associations were essential, considering their legal standings would be directly impacted by any alterations to the results of the matches in question.

According to the CAS ruling, which surfaced recently but dates back to July 28, the appeal was relegated because Feguifut had failed to name the NFA and LFA as co-respondents.

Feguifut’s argument that this procedural misstep should not have dictated the outcome was ultimately unconvincing.

FIFA noted that it was rather lenient in its punishment, emphasizing it could have pursued further sanctions against Feguifut beyond just point deduction.

Earlier this year, Nsue was authorized to represent Equatorial Guinea after Feguifut demonstrated to FIFA that he is a rightful citizen by birth, following the country’s constitution.

Nsue, who has a father from Equatorial Guinea, had previously played for the Spanish youth teams and had represented the national side multiple times since 2013.

Feguifut believed that they should have had their points returned since Nsue was always eligible to play and that FIFA’s ruling was incorrect.

However, the rules were breached by playing Nsue over 40 times without clearance, rendering the ruling without retroactive effects.

In the time between FIFA’s initial decision and the recent approval, Nsue had participated in World Cup qualifiers for both 2018 and 2022 and played in three separate Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.