Alex Iwobi says he is clinging to hope that Nigeria’s Super Eagles will still find a way to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, even as the team waits on a crucial FIFA ruling that could reshape African qualification.

The Fulham midfielder, already a veteran of one World Cup, admitted that the uncertainty has weighed heavily on the squad. Asked to choose between lifting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations trophy and securing a World Cup ticket, he framed his answer around the ambitions of his teammates rather than his own résumé.

“We’re still waiting, hopefully we can go to the World Cup,” Iwobi said, reflecting on the dilemma. “Winning AFCON is a great legacy, a memorable moment in your career. But because I’ve been to the World Cup already, a lot of the players haven’t. They would like to say ‘I want to go to the World Cup,’ so I can’t be selfish.”

That sense of collective responsibility mirrors the mood within the Nigeria Football Federation, which has mounted an aggressive legal and administrative push to keep the World Cup dream alive. Nigeria lost a tense play-off to the Democratic Republic of Congo on penalties at the Moulay Hassan Stadium, a defeat that appeared to end their qualification hopes on the pitch.

Off the pitch, however, the NFF has petitioned FIFA, alleging that DR Congo fielded several ineligible players. The case hinges on what Nigerian officials describe as a “dual nationality trap” involving the intersection of FIFA eligibility rules and DR Congo’s domestic law.

Under FIFA regulations, a player with a valid passport is generally eligible to represent that country, subject to switch rules. But DR Congo’s constitution does not recognise dual citizenship. Nigerian officials argue that this contradiction means some Congolese players should not have been cleared, and that FIFA was misled during the vetting process.

NFF General Secretary Dr Sanusi Mohammed has insisted the federation’s complaint is built on solid ground, describing the process that cleared the players as “fraudulent” and maintaining that Nigeria has a strong and credible case.

The stakes are enormous for a Super Eagles side widely regarded as one of Africa’s most gifted generations, fresh from a bronze-medal finish at AFCON 2025 in Morocco. For Iwobi and his teammates, the wait for FIFA’s verdict is more than a legal technicality; it is a pause between despair and the possibility of redemption on football’s biggest stage.