A dispute has opened over the status of Guinea-Bissau’s Estádio Nacional 24 de Setembro after Nigerian reports said the Confederation of African Football had barred the venue from staging further 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers following complaints about its playing surface.
The reported sanction has not been matched by a publicly available CAF decision, while the Guinea-Bissau Football Federation says it has received no notification from the continental governing body imposing a ban.
What is not in dispute is the result that triggered the controversy.
Guinea-Bissau defeated Nigeria 3-0 on September 29 in AFCON 2027 qualifying, a result that left the Super Eagles under early pressure in their campaign.
The match was played at the Estádio Nacional 24 de Setembro in Bissau, where concerns over the condition of the pitch subsequently became part of the fallout surrounding Nigeria’s defeat.
Several Nigerian reports have since claimed that CAF withdrew approval for the stadium and also apologised to the Nigeria Football Federation over the playing conditions.
But the Guinea-Bissau federation has issued a sharply different account.
The federation said it had received no CAF notification, decision, report or communication concerning an interdiction of the stadium and maintained that the venue had been inspected and approved for the qualifiers before the Nigeria match.
That contradiction is now at the centre of the story.
The question is no longer simply whether the Bissau pitch was poor. It is whether CAF has formally acted against the venue — and, if so, why no corresponding decision has surfaced publicly while the host federation says it has received none.
For Nigeria, the dispute does not alter the 3-0 result. Guinea-Bissau’s victory stands, leaving the Super Eagles facing the consequences of a damaging qualifying defeat.
But the stadium controversy raises a wider competition-governance issue for CAF: how venue inspections, match approvals and subsequent complaints are handled when concerns emerge after a qualifier has already been completed.
Until CAF or the NFF produces primary documentation confirming the reported sanction or apology, the authoritative public picture remains divided: Nigerian reports say action has been taken, while the Guinea-Bissau federation says it has received no such decision.
For a qualifying campaign in which every point carries weight, CAF now has an opportunity to settle the argument with a clear statement on the stadium’s status.