FIFA provisionally lifts bans on Nigerian team

REUTERS - Nigeria's ban from international soccer was provisionally lifted by FIFA on Friday, two days before the team's African Nations Cup qualifier in Guinea.

FIFA, which suspended the West African nation over political interference in the sport on Monday, said the situation had since improved and lifted the ban until later this month.

Soccer's governing body said in a statement that the acting general secretary of the Nigerian federation (NFF) had been allowed to return to his post and the government had also stopped its interference in the Nigerian League.

FIFA said there had also been assurances that a court case involving the NFF would be dropped and set Oct. 26 as the deadline for this to be confirmed.

"However, should the NFF still be embroiled in court actions or any other issue preventing it from working freely on that date, the suspension will be automatically confirmed until all problems have been definitively solved," added FIFA.

FIFA had previously threatened to suspend Nigeria in July when the government, angry at the national team's first-round exit at the World Cup, ordered them to pull out of all international competition for two years.