Nigerian icon Yakubu Ayegbeni condemns Eric Chelle over ‘voodoo’ claims after World Cup exit

Nigeria icon Yakubu Ayegbeni has issued a fierce criticism of Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle after the manager blamed Nigeria’s failure to reach the 2026 World Cup on supposed “voodoo” used by the DR Congo players.

DR Congo edged Nigeria in the CAF play-off final through a tense penalty shootout, handing the Super Eagles a second consecutive World Cup absence.

Chancel Mbemba struck the decisive spot-kick after guiding his country past Cameroon in the semi-finals.

Chelle then confronted the Congolese coaching staff on the touchline and later justified his behaviour by claiming the DR Congo team used “witchcraft” during the match.

Yakubu, who earned 58 caps and scored 21 goals for Nigeria while playing 252 Premier League matches for Everton, Portsmouth and others, rejected the allegation and said Chelle damaged the country’s reputation.

“If voodoo was the only solution, an African country would have won the World Cup a long time ago,” he told SportsCasting.

He said Chelle should have congratulated DR Congo instead of attributing the result to supernatural causes, adding: “It’s a disgrace for Nigeria, a coach who claims the victory was due to witchcraft.”

Yakubu also criticised Chelle’s behaviour during the shootout. “We lost on penalties. He tried to fight with a player and people had to restrain him.

It’s not a good image for him or for Nigeria. Our penalty shootout was quite poor. The pressure was too much for the players.”

Calvin Bassey and Moses Simon missed Nigeria’s first two penalties before Semi Ajayi saw his sudden-death effort saved by goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu.

Nigeria had taken the lead when Frank Onyeka’s strike deflected into the net, but Meschak Elia punished an error from Wilfried Ndidi to level before the shootout.

DR Congo, whose only World Cup appearance came in 1974 when the nation competed as Zaire, won the CAF play-off final in Rabat and now advance to March’s intercontinental play-offs, where Bolivia and New Caledonia await.