The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has formally appealed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decision to annul Edo Queens’ penalty-shootout victory over Ghanaian champions Ampem Darkoa Ladies in the 2026 WAFU-B Women’s Champions League qualifying final.

In its appeal, the NFF argued that Edo Queens should not bear the sporting consequences of a procedural error committed by match officials, insisting that the Nigerian champions neither caused nor requested the decision to proceed directly to penalties.

The appeal, contained in a September 28 cover letter signed by NFF Deputy Secretary-General Emmanuel Ikpeme, challenges both the legality and proportionality of CAF’s remedy after the September 5 final in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 

The final ended 2-2 after 90 minutes before the officials sent the two teams directly into a penalty shootout, which Edo Queens won 4-1 to initially claim the WAFU-B title and the zone’s qualification ticket for the CAF Women’s Champions League.

Ampem Darkoa, through the Ghana Football Association, subsequently protested the procedure, arguing that the regulations required the final to go through 30 minutes of extra time before penalties.

CAF upheld the protest, ruling that the decision to proceed directly to penalties breached Articles 13.1 and 72.4 of the applicable regulations. The continental body consequently annulled the shootout result and ordered the match to resume from the 2-2 scoreline at the start of extra time. 

Under CAF’s directive, the teams are to play two 15-minute periods of extra time, with a fresh penalty shootout required if they remain level after the additional 30 minutes.

The NFF, however, has focused its appeal on who should bear responsibility for the procedural error.

The federation maintained that Edo Queens did not determine the match procedure and had neither asked for extra time to be cancelled nor demanded a penalty shootout.

“Rather, the club complied with the official instruction that the winner be decided from the spot,” the NFF argued. 

According to the federation, there was also no finding that Edo Queens engaged in misconduct, manipulation or bad faith in relation to the decision to bypass extra time.

The NFF therefore drew a distinction between a club benefiting from an official’s mistake and actually causing or procuring that mistake.

“The fact that Edo Queens ultimately won the shoot-out cannot retrospectively convert its compliance with the referee’s instruction into responsibility for the regulatory breach,” the federation submitted. 

The federation further questioned whether CAF’s authority to establish that a regulatory irregularity occurred automatically gave the continental body unlimited discretion to determine the appropriate remedy.

It has asked the CAF Appeals Committee to determine whether the applicable regulations specifically empower CAF to annul a completed penalty shootout and restart a final from extra time where neither participating club was responsible for the irregularity.

The NFF also argued that any remedy imposed by CAF must have a clear regulatory foundation and be proportionate to the breach established.

The federation pointed out that CAF itself found that neither Edo Queens nor Ampem Darkoa was responsible for the failure to play extra time, attributing the error to an administrative instruction that was inconsistent with the competition regulations. 

The NFF is therefore asking the Appeals Committee to overturn the ruling and restore Edo Queens’ 4-1 penalty-shootout victory.

The dispute has left WAFU-B’s representative for the 2026 CAF Women’s Champions League undecided, with the eventual outcome of the continuation set to determine which of the two clubs represents the zone at the continental final tournament.

Edo Queens had reached the final after an emphatic 5-1 victory over hosts USFA, while Ampem Darkoa defeated FC Dynamique 4-1 in the other semi-final. CAF had described the two clubs as the leading sides in the zone before the disputed final. 

For now, the Nigerian champions await the decision of the CAF Appeals Committee as the NFF seeks to preserve the original sporting outcome and prevent Edo Queens from being penalised for an error it says was outside the club’s control.