The committee will run the NFF pending fresh elections, once FIFA and CAF appoint its members.
FIFA has signed off on a Normalisation Committee that will take over the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and govern it until new elections are organised.
The decision came in a letter signed by FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström and addressed to Emmanuel Ikpeme, the NFF's acting general secretary. According to the letter, the committee will have a suitable number of members, and FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will appoint them jointly as soon as possible. Its mandate ends once it has finished its tasks, and no later than 31 May 2027.
Until the members are named, the NFF Secretariat will keep running the federation's day-to-day administration.
This decision comes in the wake of the NFF's president, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, and its general secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, quitting en masse along with Executive Committee members on 27 August. Those resignations disrupted preparations for the NFF elective congress set for 27 September in Lafia, Nasarawa State, and the electoral process was suspended while FIFA and CAF consulted on the federation's future.
The crisis came amid a bad run for Nigerian football. The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the Super Falcons failed to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup, ending Nigeria's record of appearing at every edition of that tournament since its start in 1991.
On the day the NFF leadership resigned, President Bola Tinubu ordered comprehensive reforms of the sport and set out what he wanted them to cover:
"The reform must respond to a longstanding need to strengthen governance, administration, stakeholder representation, development pathways, domestic competitions and accountability across Nigerian football."
He tasked National Sports Commission (NSC) chairman Shehu Dikko with coordinating with the NFF Secretariat and football stakeholders, and with dealing with FIFA and CAF.
Dikko headed a Nigerian team that travelled to FIFA's Zurich headquarters in Switzerland on 1 September to talk over the crisis and a plan for reform. Kurt-Okraku, who is CAF's second vice-president, and Gelson Fernandes, FIFA's director for member associations in Africa, were there as well. FIFA President Gianni Infantino subsequently remarked that the talks dealt with institutional, governance and development matters, such as strengthening Nigeria's football frameworks and opening up more chances for young players.
A letter dated 7 September from FIFA and CAF told the NFF to halt its electoral process while they weighed up the electoral, administrative, governance and legal consequences of the leadership crisis. Both bodies also outlined a plan to send a joint evaluation team to Abuja in order to hold talks with pertinent parties.
The committee's composition and the full details of its responsibilities have yet to be announced.
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