Nigeria coach Chelle calls for stringent punishment for players who walk off the pitch

Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle has advocated for the strict enforcement of football rules, such as issuing a yellow card for deliberately leaving the pitch or declaring an automatic defeat after 15 minutes of absence, to prevent future controversies.

Speaking on RMC Sport’s After Afrique podcast, Chelle emphasized that without the application of these rules, such incidents will continue to tarnish the image of African football.

“For the AFCON final, deliberately leaving the field warrants a yellow card.It’s simply a matter of knowing and applying the rules,” stated Eric Chelle, coach of Nigeria.

He was addressing the incident during the African Cup of Nations final on the 18th of last month, where the match between Senegal and Morocco was halted for about 15 minutes after the Teranga Lions’ head coach, Pape Thiaw, instructed his players to leave the pitch in protest of a last-minute penalty awarded to the hosts.

The disciplinary committee subsequently sanctioned the coach with a five-match suspension, while his players received a two-match ban for the offense.

Chelle guided Nigeria to third place at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco.