Former Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh became the latest Nigerian expert to discuss the Teboho Mokoena yellow card situation against Lesotho, stating he believes Bafana Bafana “are in trouble”.
Ahead of South Africa’s home match against the Super Eagles, many inside Nigeria are still gridlocked on the issues of Mokoena’s suspension in Bafana’s win over Lesotho in March.
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Oliseh explains that Bafana could get docked points because Mokoena was suspended for the match – a similar line that has been argued by many in his home country.
“To the best of my knowledge South Africa is in trouble,” Oliseh said on his podcast.
“The Football Association is responsible for ensuring that only eligible players are fielded. If a team fields an ineligible player and a valid protest is upheld, standard penalties on the FIFA Disciplinary Code include the forfeiture of the match.
“The result is typically overturned to a 3-0 defeat for the offending team, regardless of the actual score, resulting in the loss of three points for South Africa in this case and an award of three points to Lesotho.”
However, what Oliseh – and seemingly many others – do not realise is that Lesotho was unaware of the situation and did not lodge an official protest at the time, as confirmed to iDiski Times by Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) Secretary General Mokhosi Mohapi in March.
“However, if no valid protest was filed or if FIFA determines extenuating factors, for example administrative errors without intent penalties could be mitigated or waved,” Oliseh continues.
“For any disciplinary action against South Africa to be taken, the following procedures to the best of my knowledge must be followed – there has to be a protest by the opponent, not anybody else. There has to be a protest that is affected directly by this, in this case Lesotho.
“The protesting team must submit a written protest to the FIFA match commissioner within two hours of the matches end.
“This must be followed by a full written report, including a copy of the initial protest, send to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee via email within 24 or 48 hours of the match.
“Untimely or unfounded protests are disregarded. We now need to find out if Lesotho did file a timely protest in March 2025 when this happened…”
FIFA are yet to give any official comment on the case, but might not see any grounds to act without an official protest by the Lesotho FA, and despite attempts from Nigeria and the NFF to have Bafana punished.
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