Nigerian supporters continue to be disappointed by recent failures from the national team at the senior level as well as the country’s youth teams and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) held a meeting in Abuja to discuss how to move forward.
The senior national team fell to a 1-0 home defeat in 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying over the last FIFA window and the under-23 side failed to qualify for the 2023 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations for the first time after participating at the previous three editions of the competition that serves as a qualifying tournament for the Summer Olympics. These notable results caused the NFF to reexamine its policies for player selection as well as its governing of the country’s domestic competitions.
NFF president Ibrahim Gusau and the NFF executive board issued a statement following the meeting, indicating that the NFF will not overextend itself to bring in dual national players based abroad unless there is a firm commitment to represent Nigeria from these players:
“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 international level will no longer be treated with kid gloves.”
In addition to the issue with players lacking commitment, the NFF also pledged to punish agents who interfere with Nigeria’s national team fortunes and stated a commitment to further backing for the domestic game. Within a month there will be boards appointed to oversee and govern the country’s top division Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), the second tier Nigeria National League (NNL), the third tier Nigeria Nationwide League One (NLO) and the women’s top tier Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) also known as the NWFL Premiership.