Babayaro is sent home

Chelsea's Celestine Babayaro was one of three players sent home from the African Nations Cup by Nigeria today for indiscipline.

Babayaro, Portsmouth's Yakubu Ayegbeni and Victor Agali of German team Schalke 04 have all be told to pack their bags for breaking squad rules.

Taiwo Obunjobi, the general secretary of the Nigerian Football Association, would not confirm suggestions that they had returned late to the camp last night after an evening out, but said the three players would not be taking any further part in the competition.

He said: "They are being sent home because they broke the rules of the camp."

Nigeria lost their opening match 1-0 to Morocco on Tuesday and face a difficult match against South Africa tomorrow.

Babayaro played for the full 90 minutes against Morocco. Two years ago, another high-profile African player, Bayern Munich defender Sammy Kuffour, of Ghana, was also dismissed for disciplinary reasons.