Nigeria faces Monday deadline to reverse international ban

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The world football's governing body FIFA on Friday set the deadline for Nigeria to reverse the decision after Nigerian President announced to ban the national team from international competitions for two years.

FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said that a letter was sent to the Nigerian Football Federation on Friday, trying to persuade Nigeria to countermanded the ban decision before Monday 1600 GMT.

"Failure to do so will lead to the suspension of the Nigerian federation," warned Maingot.

President Goodluck Jonathan has banned Nigeria's football team on Wednesday from competing in all international tournaments for two years following the Super Eagles' poor performance in the 2010 World Cup.

Being a traditional football powerhouse in Africa, Nigeria failed to emerge from the group stage of the ongoing South Africa World Cup, suffering two defeats and a draw to finish at the bottom in Group B.

The president believed the two year withdrawal from international football could give the west African country enough time to reorganize its football administration.

However, the Nigerian leader's decision also risked the danger of sanction from FIFA, who always hammers at retaining the independence of football from political interference.

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