Football’s house of failure

Nigeria’s football crisis has reached a point where both senior national teams have suffered major qualifying failures. The Super Falcons missed the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after losing to Cameroon in the quarterfinals of the Women’s African Cup of Nations, while the Super Eagles were eliminated by DR Congo in March’s playoffs.

For the women’s team, the setback ended Nigeria’s uninterrupted record of qualifying for every Women’s World Cup since the tournament began in 1991. The Falcons also lost 3-2 to debutants Malawi in their opening group game and were later beaten 2-1 by South Africa’s Bayana Bayana. The article describes the team’s performance in Morocco as dispiriting and says coach Justin Madugu resigned afterward.

The Nigeria Football Federation board, led by Ibrahim Gusau, then resigned en masse. The article calls the board inept and links the latest collapse to problems that had already marked the previous administration under Amaju Pinnick, including Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. The Super Eagles also missed out on the 2026 World Cup after a weak qualifying campaign. The Super Falconets’ qualification for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland stands out as a rare success.

The article argues that financial rewards have not solved the deeper problems. After the Falcons won a record 10th WAFCON title in 2024, President Bola Tinubu awarded each player $100,000, while the coaching staff received $50,000 each, three-bedroom flats in the Federal Capital Territory and national honours. Yet delayed bonuses, poor accommodation, disputes before key matches, weak coaching and political interference continued to undermine the teams.

The EFCC has begun investigating the Gusau board over allegations that administrators mismanaged N17 billion released to the federation. The article says the football system’s problems run deeper than money and criticises the Federal Government for failing to address them properly.