Thursday, October 8, 2026

FIFA fines Egyptian club $70,000 for abandoning Nigerian striker Junior Ajayi

FIFA has ordered Egyptian club Smouha SC to pay Nigerian striker Junior Ajayi $70,000 after abandoning the player following an injury in 2022.

• May 25, 2023
JUNIOR AJAYI and Smouha SC
JUNIOR AJAYI and Smouha SC

FIFA has ordered Egyptian club Smouha SC to pay Nigerian striker Junior Ajayi $70,000 after abandoning the player following an injury in 2022.

In October 2022, during a friendly match between Smouha and Canal, the former U23 international suffered an injury.

After being dumped by the team, the 27-year-old presented his case to FIFA.

FIFA has now stepped in and given the Alexandria-based club a couple of weeks to pay the Nigerian player $70,000.

Ajayi has spent his whole football career in North Africa, beginning with Tunisian club CS Sfaxien in 2015 before joining Al Ahly a year later.

During his five-year stint with the team recognised as the most successful in Africa, the striker earned two African Champions League titles.

He agreed to join the Libyan club Al-Nasr Benghazi in 2022 before leaving to join SC Smouha.

Ajayi began his career with the Nigerian U20 squad before progressing to the U23 team, which won bronze in the Rio 2016 Olympics football event.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Nigerian Bar Association

States

Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future

The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Anne Carson

World

Anne Carson wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

Ingrid Carlberg, the academy’s secretary-general announced the winner of the prestigious Nobel Prize on Thursday.

Christa Pike

World

Judge orders Christa Pike botched execution evidence be preserved

Judge I’Ashea Myles ordered the Tennessee prison to preserve a wide range of evidence, including syringes and IV lines used in last week’s botched execution of Christa Pike.

Bandits

States

Bandit killed, three hostages freed in Katsina gunfight: Police

The police command in Katsina says it freed three hostages during a gunfight with bandits in Kankia and Musawa local councils.

Transmission towers

States

Three transmission towers collapse, disrupting power supply in Keffi, Akwanga

The Transmission Company of Nigeria says three transmission towers have collapsed along the Karu-Keffi-Akwanga 132kV transmission line corridor.

Adewale Ogoemi Arojah

States

Police apprehend Ogun man for N18 million Facebook fraud, impersonating ‘prophet’

The police command in Ogun has arrested a suspect, Adewale Ogoemi Arojah, for impersonating a cleric on Facebook and defrauding people of millions of naira.

Candle in darkness

States

Outage: TCN announces two-day power maintenance in Ogun communities

The Transmission Company of Nigeria has announced a two-day preventive maintenance exercise at the Ijebu-Ode Transmission Substation in Ogun.