Aiyegbeni slams Nigeria’s Chelle over voodoo claims after World Cup miss

Former Nigeria international Yakubu Aiyegbeni has taken issues with Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle for claiming the West Africans missed out on the 2026 FIFA World Cup because DR Congo used voodoo during their qualifying game for Africa.

After losing the game against the Leopards, the Malian coach said he saw a guy from Congo doing something with a bottle, which made him quite nervous. During the African Play-off final at the Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan Stadium, the Leopards kept their dream alive after beating the Super Eagles 4-3 on penalties, following a 1-1 draw after extra time.

“During the penalty session, a guy from Congo did some voodoo every time, every time…so this is why I was a little nervous after him,” Chelle said after the game.

Asked to explain what he exactly saw, the Malian coach explained: “It was something like a bottle, I don’t know if it was water, I don’t know but he did something.”

Nigeria penalties were quite very poor

Aiyegbeni, who played for Everton in the Premier League among other clubs, has come out to disagree with Chelle, saying Nigeria deserved to lose against DR Congo in the Playoffs.

“If it was down to voodoo, I think an African country would have won the World Cup a long time ago,” he said as quoted by Independent UK. “He [Eric Chelle] just needed to congratulate DR Congo and say well done for winning, rather than bringing shame to Nigeria.

“He is a shame to Nigeria, a coach coming out and saying it’s because of voodoo. We lost on penalties, he tried to fight someone and they had to pull him back. It is not a good look for him or for Nigeria.

“Our penalties were quite poor. The pressure was too much for the players to deal with.”

Nigeria arrived buoyed by a 4-1 extra-time win over Gabon; while DR Congo had eliminated Cameroon with a stoppage-time strike from Mbemba. The win enabled DR Congo, who last appeared at a World Cup in 1974 as Zaire, to advance to the inter-confederation play-off from 23-31 March 2026.