Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle has accused DRC players of practising “voodoo” during their penalty shootout win over his team on Sunday.
DRC won 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the CAF World Cup play-off final, securing a place in March’s six-team inter-confederation play-offs and knocking Nigeria out of contention.
Nigeria took an early lead through Frank Onyeka’s deflected effort, before Meschak Elia equalised for DRC to send the match into extra time. The shootout eventually decided the match, with Chancel Mbemba scoring the decisive spot-kick.
Chelle immediately confronted several members of DRC’s staff, including head coach Sébastien Desabre, and had to be restrained by Nigeria’s backroom team.
Desabre later dismissed the altercation as “not an issue”.
During his own press conference, Chelle criticised reporters for not asking about the incident, then claimed in French that “the DRC guys were doing maraboutage”, a term associated with spiritual rituals. He repeated the accusation in English in the mixed zone, saying: “During all of the penalties, the players of Congo were doing some voodoo.”
A DRC representative denied Chelle’s allegations. Inter-confederation play-offs explained. The play-offs will take place in North America during the March international break, though exact venues and dates remain unconfirmed. DRC, New Caledonia and Bolivia have already secured three of the six available slots.
The UAE and Iraq are competing over two legs for Asia’s place after drawing 1–1 in Abu Dhabi, with the return match set for Tuesday in Basra.
Concacaf will receive two play-off positions as host confederation, awarded to the two best runners-up in its third qualifying round. Jamaica and Panama currently hold those spots going into the final round of matches.
Once all six teams are confirmed, they will be split into seeded and unseeded groups and drawn into two pathways. The two highest-ranked teams will be seeded directly into the pathway finals, while the four unseeded sides will play single-leg semi-finals.
The two winners of the pathway finals will secure the last places at the 2026 men’s World Cup.