Equatorial Guinea have been forced to lose their first two 2026 World Cup qualifiers after a FIFA Disciplinary Committee found that former Spain junior international Emilio Nsue was ineligible to compete in both matches.

Last November, the 34-year-old scored the game-winning goal against Namibia and Liberia.

Nsue, who finished as the top scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast earlier this year, has also been banned from international football for six months, FIFA revealed in a statement on Friday, but they did not elaborate on the exact reasons for his ineligibility.

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Equatorial Guinea was forced to forfeit two matches in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers for deploying Nsue.

FIFA did not provide a cause for his ineligibility at that time. Interestingly, he did compete in the qualifiers for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals.

FIFA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Equatorial Guinea defeated Liberia and Namibia 1-0 in their first two qualifiers for 2026, however those results will now be recorded as 3-0 losses.

“After considering all elements brought before it, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee was comfortably satisfied that the player was ineligible and consequently decided to declare the matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition in which the player was fielded lost by forfeit by Equatorial Guinea,” the FIFA statement said.

Nsue won the Golden Boot in the recent Cup of Nations by scoring five goals, but he missed a crucial penalty in the round of 16 loss to Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea’s next qualifier is on June 5 in Tunisia, followed by a five-day home match against Malawi.

They are six points behind leaders Tunisia and Namibia in the six-team pool, with only the top team advancing to the finals in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.