The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently made a bold move following a disappointing run of games by the national football team. In a meeting held on Monday, the board resolved that it would no longer tolerate any form of indiscipline from any player wearing the national jersey or beg any player to play for the national team.
The poor performance of both the Super Eagles and the U-23 men’s team prompted the NFF to take drastic action. The U-23 team, led by Coach Salisu Yusuf, missed out on making it to this year’s U-23 AFCON after losing 2-0 to Guinea in the second leg of their final qualifying fixture. This loss also means that the team will not be competing in the 2024 Olympic men’s football tournament in Paris, France.
The Super Eagles also experienced a drop in their ranking, falling from 35th to 40th in the latest rankings due to their poor performance in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau. The NFF board, led by Ibrahim Gusau as the president, expressed dissatisfaction with these results and decided to take drastic action to ensure discipline was restored back in the national team.
In a statement, the NFF said, “The board expressed distaste with recent results of the Super Eagles and the U-23 Boys, and fully endorsed the NFF President’s stated position that the federation will never beg any player to wear the nation’s colours. Whoever is not motivated for one reason or the other to represent Nigeria should always be bold enough to state this at the point of invitation. Any perceived lackadaisical attitude by any player wearing Nigeria’s colours at the international level will no longer be treated with kid gloves.”
The NFF board also expressed satisfaction with the winning mentality of the Super Falcons after winning their last three international friendlies. The team, which has won the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations nine times, defeated Costa Rica 1-0 at the 2023 Women’s Revelations Cup in February and recorded a 2-1 victory over Haiti and a 3-0 win against New Zealand in friendly matches ahead of the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia from July 20 to August 20.
“The Board stated that it will do even more to prepare the team for the big challenge with another grade A friendly match in Europe and a two-week camping in Australia before the kick-off of the tournament on 20 July,” the statement added.
It is clear that the NFF board is determined to restore discipline and ensure that players who represent Nigeria do so with the utmost pride and dedication. As the statement suggests, any player who is not motivated to represent Nigeria should speak up at the point of invitation. It remains to be seen how this new policy will affect the performance of the national team.
