Nigeria ban provisionally lifted by FIFA

BERNE, (Reuters) – Nigeria’s ban from international  soccer was provisionally lifted by FIFA yesterday, two days  before the team’s African Nations Cup qualifier in Guinea.

FIFA, which suspended the West African nation over political  interference in the sport on Monday, said the situation had  since improved and lifted the ban until later this month.

Soccer’s governing body said in a statement that the acting  general secretary of the Nigerian federation (NFF) had been  allowed to return to his post and the government had also  stopped its interference in the Nigerian League.

FIFA said there had also been assurances that a court case  involving the NFF would be dropped and set Oct. 26 as the  deadline for this to be confirmed.

“However, should the NFF still be embroiled in court actions  or any other issue preventing it from working freely on that  date, the suspension will be automatically confirmed until all  problems have been definitively solved,” added FIFA.