Segun Odegbami
Former Super Eagles captain, Chief Segun Odegbami, has described the current board of the Nigeria Football Federation as a total failure, calling on its members to leave and allow a new set of people to take charge of football in the country.
Odegbami made the call during a radio programme in Lagos, where he said the NFF board should be held accountable for the country’s recent failures in international football.
The former presidential candidate of the country’s apex football body acknowledged that most of the NFF board members are his friends but insisted that friendship should not prevent him from speaking the truth.
“If you fail to take your team to the World Cup, you find out that more often than not they vote you out or sack you,” he said.
“That’s the measure. If you have a coach that doesn’t do well, they sack him, if you have a player who is doing badly you remove him.
“These guys have not succeeded.
“They’re our friends, that’s the painful thing, we know ourselves, we are all in the business and when we champion the fact that they should go, they make you an enemy.
“It’s not a personalised thing.
“They have failed, if we go back to that route we are going to fail as we have failed before.”
Also Read:FIFA, CAF To Observe NFF Elections in September.
WAFCON Woes, NIgeria Football Federation Lies Like A Lizard to Apologise to Nigerians.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify for another FIFA World Cup after losing their playoff to DR Congo, having also missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The situation has also raised concerns over the Super Falcons’ chances of qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Super Falcons are on the verge of missing the tournament after losing their quarter-final game against Cameroon at the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The defeat also put their bid to defend their continental crown under pressure.
The Nigerian women’s team will face South Africa’s Banyana Banyana on Thursday in one of the playoffs for a place at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Odegbami’s call for the NFF board to leave comes amid the country’s struggles to secure World Cup qualification for both the men’s and women’s national teams.
[
