The leading scorer at the 2024 African Cup of Nations five months ago, Emilio Nsue, was deemed ineligible to represent Equatorial Guinea throughout his 11-year international career,according to a FIFA ruling.
This comes after FIFA’s disciplinary committee recently nullified two victories by Equatorial Guinea in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers held in November, citing Nsue’s ineligibility.
The 34-year-old, who previously played for Spain’s youth and Under-21 teams, scored decisive goals in 1-0 wins against Namibia and Liberia.
However, FIFA’s investigation revealed that he should not have participated in these matches, leading to a six-month suspension from national team activities.
This ruling echoes a similar verdict from 2013, when Equatorial Guinea was penalized by forfeiting two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches as 3-0 losses due to Nsue’s ineligibility.
The repeated issue stems from Nsue’s competitive appearances for Spain’s youth teams before obtaining his new nationality, disqualifying him from representing Equatorial Guinea under FIFA’s regulations.
Nsue “apparently only acquired the Equatoguinean nationality (March 2013) after having played in his first international match in an official competition” with Spain, the FIFA judges wrote in their judgment.
Nsue had played 26 competitive matches for Spain’s youth teams, from the Under-16 to Under-21 levels, over six years until 2011.
A recent 15-page FIFA document dated May 10, 2024, details the chaotic process the Equatoguinean federation went through a decade ago in trying to get Nsue approved.
In 2013, the federation sought Nsue’s release from Spanish officials but did not approach FIFA for formal permission. They went ahead and fielded him in two World Cup qualifying matches, which were later defaulted as 3-0 losses.
In December 2013, FIFA denied the request for Nsue to change his eligibility, citing his newly acquired nationality. Despite this, Nsue continued to play for the Equatorial Guinea team.
Nsue “still took part in a substantial number of matches for the (men’s senior) representative team of the FEGUIFOOT over a significant period of time (while undoubtedly knowing that he was ineligible),” the FIFA judges wrote.
Despite previous disciplinary actions and defaulted games from the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Emilio Nsue continued to play in the qualifying matches for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
It remains unclear why FIFA did not take action against those games.
Nsue also participated in the 2015 African Cup of Nations, which Equatorial Guinea hosted as a replacement despite being disqualified from the qualifiers due to an ineligible player.
Additionally, he played in the 2022 AFCON, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football and outside FIFA’s jurisdiction.
Over his international career, Nsue has played more than 40 matches for Equatorial Guinea and scored 23 goals, including five at the most recent AFCON in January.
His high-profile performance in Ivory Coast seemed to have triggered a renewed disciplinary investigation.
In March, FIFA reopened the case and contacted Nsue, giving him a six-day deadline to respond to the pending charge.
“No position was received from the respondent,” FIFA judges wrote.
FIFA judges clarified that they only took action against Nsue’s participation in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers because it is an active competition.
Nsue, currently playing for the Spanish lower-tier team Intercity, and his national federation have the option to appeal the sanctions, first to FIFA and subsequently to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
