ONTD FOOTBALL

World body FIFA, which doesn't allow governments to interfere in football affairs, said it would not recognize Saturday's meeting and has given Nigeria until Tuesday to reinstate Maigari or face sanctions. That would likely involve banning the country's national team and clubs from playing in continental or international tournaments, and could leave players like Chelsea's John Obi Mikel and Liverpool's Victor Moses frozen out of next year's African Cup in Morocco, where Nigeria is due to defend its title.

Maigari was also arrested on his return from the World Cup in Brazil and delegates at the emergency meeting said they blamed him for embarrassing Nigeria at the tournament by not resolving the bonus dispute.

Nigeria reached the second round for the first time since 1998 but had its campaign marred by the payment dispute, where players rebelled against the federation after not receiving their money for making the last 16 of the showcase. However, the continent's reputation was also badly damaged as Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana all had their tournaments undermined by disputes between players and officials over money.