The top scorer at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals, Emilio Nsue, has been found to have played illegally for Equatorial Guinea for 11 years, according to FIFA documentation detailing a six-month ban handed to him last month.
Nsue, 34, whose previous clubs include Birmingham City and Middlesbrough, finished as the top marksman at the finals in the Ivory Coast in January. Equatorial Guinea exceeded expectations, defeating the host nation in the group phase and progressing to the last 16.
However, it has emerged that Nsue should not have been playing at all. On Monday, FIFA published the decision of its disciplinary committee regarding his status. The decision, made on May 10th, found that Nsue should not have been allowed to represent the small Central African nation. His previous request for a switch of footballing nationality had been denied.
Despite this ruling, Equatorial Guinea continued to field him before FIFA stepped in more than 10 years after denying his request to switch to the African country. Nsue, born in Palma de Mallorca to a Spanish mother and a father from Equatorial Guinea, had represented Spain at junior level, including scoring at the 2009 U-20 World Cup.
Players who represent one country at junior level can apply to switch international allegiance as long as they have not won a competitive senior cap and have dual nationality. However, FIFA denied Nsue’s request to switch because he only acquired Equatoguinean nationality after playing at junior level for Spain. By that time, he had already made two appearances for Equatorial Guinea in qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, leading to a fine for the team.
Despite these rulings, Nsue continued to play for Equatorial Guinea, including in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup qualifiers and three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. FIFA’s recent findings gave no explanation for revisiting Nsue’s status, but on May 24th, they stripped Equatorial Guinea of the six points collected from their two 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November. Nsue had scored the winning goals in both games against Namibia and Liberia.
He was banned for six months from international football, although he had already announced his retirement after the Cup of Nations. FIFA has not responded to previous queries about the apparent administrative slip-up.
