The way forward for Nigerian football
Nigerian football is at its lowest level following the failure of the Super Eagles to nick a place at the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The failure was the country’s second in a roll after missing the 2022 edition following a number of unpalatable decisions by the Nigeria Football Federation. The three-time African champions lost to Burkina Faso in the playoff via penalties after the team was held to a draw in the regular period. As a result, the hopes of many Nigerian fans of seeing their beloved side spring surprises at the global tournament went into flames. Many fans continue to nurse the unfortunate disaster, as if that was not enough, the Women’s team suffered an unexpected failure at the last edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations which hindered the team from qualifying authomatically for the next World Cup, the team again missed another glorious chance of redemption after losing a playoff game to South Africa. The hopes of seeing Nigeria team shine at the World Cup came to the limelight when the country’s U20 Women’s team nicked a place at the World Cup, unfortunately, the team failed to go past the quarterfinals after losing to Colombia. In an effort to turn around the misfortune of Nigeria football, FIFA visited Nigeria recently after many of the previous football administrators resigned. A number of football aficionados have suggested that former international, Segun Odegbami and other past Super Eagles stars should be given opportunities to lead the federation. In a recent podcast from former Chelsea star and Nigeria captain Mikel Obi, he claimed he would have loved to be involved in the federation but for corruption and other matters he felt happened in the last administration. It is high time Nigeria brought her former stars to bring to bear their experiences in the team by giving them opportunities to run the affairs of football in the country.
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