Football fans in Uyo will pay ₦3,000 for VIP seats and ₦1,000 for popular stands to watch Saturday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying clash between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Rwanda’s Amavubi at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced that tickets will be available from Friday morning at designated centres across Uyo metropolis.

Speaking on Wednesday, NFF’s Director of Marketing and Sponsorship, Alizor Chuks, warned against ticket racketeering.

“It is important to let the general public know that the NFF Security Committee has declared total war on all ticket manipulators this time. Ticket fakers and racketeers will be dealt with.

“All tickets will be scanned at the gates. All intending spectators are advised to buy their tickets from accredited ticket sellers. Fake ticket sellers or holders will be arrested and prosecuted,” Chuks said.

Meanwhile, Rwanda’s contingent touched down at Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 5:28 p.m. on Tuesday, led by the newly elected FERWAFA president, Fabrice Shema Agoga.

They were received by the local organizing committee and lodged at the Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort.

The Amavubi are expected to hold their first training session at the Godswill Akpabio practice pitch on Wednesday afternoon.

On the Nigerian side, camp at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot-Ekpene, swelled on Wednesday with the arrivals of Africa Player of the Year, Ademola Lookman, and new Panathinaikos forward Cyriel Dessers. Five other key players — Victor Osimhen, Christantus Uche, Tolu Arokodare, Samuel Chukwueze, and Raphael Onyedika — were being expected by evening.

The high-stakes qualifier promises to be a crowd-puller as both nations aim to strengthen their push for a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

FIFA will sell tickets for the 2026 World Cup using dynamic pricing, with group-stage seats starting at $60 and finals tickets rising to $6,730.

The first sales window, a Visa Presale Draw, runs from September 10–19, offering about 1 million tickets. Fans must register through their FIFA accounts, but entry into the draw does not guarantee availability.

Dynamic pricing, common in airlines and hotels, adjusts costs based on demand. FIFA will also roll out an official resale platform without price caps, while Mexican residents will have a face-value resale option through watchdog PROFECO.

According to Mark Gleeson, a top-notch South African sports journalist,  FIFA’s reticence to dock World Cup points from South Africa for using a defaulter in a March fixture is casting a cloud and creating confusion ahead of this week’s potentially decisive round of African qualifiers.

He wrote for the global news agency, Reuters. The write-up runs thus:

FIFA’s reticence to dock World Cup points from South Africa for using a defaulter in a March fixture is casting a cloud and creating confusion ahead of this week’s potentially decisive round of African qualifiers.

South Africa were severely embarrassed when they belatedly discovered the mistake, but insists that because their opponents did not protest, they will not lose the three points.

“We did something bad, we did something we shouldn’t do, but there was no complaint,” said South Africa coach Hugo Broos this week when again questioned on the matter.

But FIFA’s Disciplinary Code makes provisions for proceedings to be instigated by the administration of world football’s governing body, not only via protest, and they have previously sanctioned countries which have committed the same offence.

The rules state: “If a person receives a caution in two separate matches of the same FIFA competition, they are automatically suspended from the next match in that competition.”

The disciplinary code also adds: “If a team fields a player who is not eligible to participate (due to suspension, registration issues, nationality, etc.), the match is automatically forfeited. The default result is a 3–0 loss, unless the actual result was even more disadvantageous to the offending team.”

“It is not normal that we don’t know the situation about the points on the log table before our games this week,” said Gernot Rohr, coach of Benin, which is second behind South Africa in the standings.

“It is very, very strange. Normally, South Africa should lose three points, and they should go to Lesotho. But nobody knows why they (FIFA) did not take this decision,” he told Reuters.

UNANSWERED

Repeated queries to world football’s governing body in Zurich have gone unanswered in the five months since the incident.

Rohr would know better than most the ramifications of fielding an ineligible player. In the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, when he was Nigeria’s coach, they forfeited the point from a 1-1 draw in Algeria for fielding Shehu Abdullahi, who was suspended.

“We didn’t know he was suspended, and we lost the points in the disciplinary committee,” added Rohr.

With their win still intact, South Africa lead the standings with 13 points, five ahead of Rwanda and Benin and six ahead of Nigeria, whom they host in a crunch game in Bloemfontein next Tuesday. Lesotho have six points and Zimbabwe sit last on four.

Losing three points would see South Africa’s advantage reduced to only two points with four qualifiers to play and put Lesotho into second place, setting up a nervy round of matches when the six protagonists play on Friday and again next Tuesday.

The teams tussling for qualification want clarity. “The world still awaits FIFA’s decision,” said the Nigerian Football Federation on their website this week, and Rohr added, “FIFA should now very quickly give the decision.”

The group winner qualifies automatically for next year’s finals in North America.

-Reuters

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