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Nigeria were beaten in the CAF play-off final on penalties before Chelle made the outrageous claim
Will CastleMonday 01 December 2025 10:40 GMTComments
open image in galleryNigeria legend Yakubu has slammed Eric Chelle (Getty Images)
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Yakubu has blasted Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle for stooping to the low of blaming voodoo for the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
DR Congo won the CAF play-off final on penalties to deny Nigeria a second consecutive World Cup finals as captain Chancel Mbemba, who scored the winner in the semi-final over Cameroon, converted the winning spot-kick.
After Mbemba’s winning penalty, Chelle confronted the opposing team’s coaching staff on the touchline, later justifying his hostile reaction with a claim that “the players of Congo did some voodoo”.
Nigeria legend Yakubu, who made 252 appearances in the Premier League for the likes of Everton and Portsmouth across his career, says such allegations has brought shame upon his country.
“If it was down to Voodoo, I think an African country would have won the World Cup a long time ago,” he told SportsCasting.
open image in galleryNigeria coach Eric Chelle (third from left) before the CAF play-off final (REUTERS)“He (Chelle) just needed to congratulate DR Congo and say well done for winning, rather than bringing shame to Nigeria. He is a shame to Nigeria, a coach coming out and saying it’s because of voodoo.
“We lost on penalties, he tried to fight someone and they had to pull him back. It is not a good look for him or for Nigeria. Our penalties were quite poor. The pressure was too much for the players to deal with.“
Calvin Bassey and Moses Simon missed their first two penalties of the shoot-out before Semi Ajayi’s kick was saved by DR Congo Timothy Fayulu in sudden-death.
The game was taken to spot-kicks after Frank Onyeka’s deflected opener for Nigeria was cancelled out by a DR Congo equaliser in the first half, with Meschak Elia punishing Wilfried Ndidi’s mistake.
DR Congo have only played in the World Cup once in 1974, when the country was called Zaire. As the winners of the CAF play-off final, to be held in the Moroccan capital Rabat, they will advance to March’s inter-continental play-offs, joining the likes of Bolivia and New Caledonia as well as three other teams.
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