FIFA's lawyers knew in March that DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was allegedly ineligible. They recommended sanctions. Nothing happened. Mpasi then played at the World Cup — including against England in the last 32.
That sequence of events, reported by both The New York Times and Le Monde, is the core of the latest governance crisis swirling around Gianni Infantino. The FIFA president was already under significant pressure over the Folarin Balogun red card case. Now there's this.
A pattern that's becoming hard to dismiss
According to the reports, FIFA's legal team had identified the eligibility issue before DR Congo's intercontinental play-off against Jamaica. The options on the table included disqualifying DR Congo from that match and banning Mpasi. Instead, the matter was quietly shelved, and a goalkeeper who should apparently never have been on the plane ended up playing at the biggest tournament in football.
CONCACAF, the confederation representing Jamaica, has responded carefully but pointedly: it expects eligibility regulations to be "applied consistently and fairly in all competitions" and says any concerns affecting the integrity of a competition "should be thoroughly reviewed." That's diplomatic language for: Jamaica may have been wronged and someone should answer for it.
From a betting integrity standpoint, this matters beyond the politics. If a team advances through a play-off with an ineligible player — and that is later confirmed — every result that flows from it is tainted. DR Congo's presence in the last 32, where they faced England, could theoretically have looked very different.
The Balogun case made this worse
The timing is punishing for Infantino. The Balogun situation — where the US striker's one-match ban was suspended by FIFA's disciplinary committee, allowing him to play against Belgium — already had the hallmarks of institutional embarrassment. Then US President Donald Trump admitted he personally called Infantino to review the sanction. FIFA insists its disciplinary committee is independent and Infantino did not intervene. The optics remain what they are.
Norway's football federation has now filed formal complaints with FIFA's ethics committee and its governance, audit and compliance committee — covering the Balogun case, a private investor plan for FIFA's commercial operations, and the decision to award Trump the FIFA Peace Prize. That's three separate complaints from one federation. It's a signal that confidence in FIFA's internal accountability structures is fraying at the edges.
FIFA has been approached for comment on the DR Congo reports. CAF has also been contacted. Neither has responded publicly at the time of writing — which, given the circumstances, might be the loudest statement of all.
