The Nigeria Football Federation has challenged the Confederation of African Football’s decision to overturn Edo Queens’ victory over Ghanaian champions Ampem Darkoa Ladies in the WAFU-B final and direct the game to continue from extra time.

The appeal, submitted on Tuesday on behalf of Edo Queens, contests CAF’s ruling to cancel the Nigerian club’s 4-1 penalty shoot-out triumph after the September 5 final in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, finished 2-2 at the end of regulation time.

Edo Queens were initially crowned WAFU-B champions and secured the zone’s qualification ticket for the CAF Women’s Champions League after prevailing in the penalty shoot-out.

However, after Ampem Darkoa filed a protest, CAF ruled on Sunday that the encounter ought to have gone into two periods of extra time before penalties, as stipulated under Article 72.4 of the competition regulations.

In its appeal, the NFF maintained that Edo Queens should not bear the consequences of an error made by the match officials, noting that the players neither asked for nor contributed to the decision to proceed straight to penalties.

The federation said the Nigerian side simply followed the referee’s instructions and took part in the shoot-out in good faith. It added that there had been no allegation or finding of misconduct, manipulation or bad faith against the champions.

The NFF also highlighted the distinction between benefiting from an official’s mistake and being responsible for causing or facilitating such an error.

“The fact that Edo Queens ultimately won the shoot-out cannot retrospectively convert its compliance with the referee’s instruction into responsibility for the regulatory breach.

“There is an important distinction between benefiting from an official’s error and causing or procuring the error.

“It is therefore difficult to justify a remedy which effectively removes the sporting consequence of the penalty shoot-out from Edo Queens where the club was not responsible for the circumstances which produced it,” the NFF argued.

The federation also challenged CAF’s jurisdiction to cancel an already completed penalty shoot-out and order the fixture to resume from extra time, particularly when neither team was responsible for the procedural error.

It further maintained that any sanction or remedy imposed by CAF should be firmly supported by the competition regulations and remain proportionate to the irregularity established.

The NFF therefore called on the CAF Appeals Committee to reverse the decision and recognise Edo Queens’ 4-1 penalty shoot-out victory, arguing that the result should not be withdrawn from a team that acted in accordance with the match officials’ instructions.