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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Sports

Infantino urges stronger structures and development pathways for Nigerian football

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • FIFA President Gianni Infantino met a Nigerian delegation in Zurich and called for stronger institutional, governance and development structures in the country’s football system.
  • The meeting followed the resignation of the Nigeria Football Federation’s principal officers and President Bola Tinubu’s call for action over what he described as repeated failures.
  • FIFA, Nigeria’s government, the NFF and the Confederation of African Football plan to develop a short-, medium- and long-term reform roadmap.

Gianni Infantino wants Nigerian football to build stronger structures and clearer pathways for young players. The FIFA president made the call after meeting a Nigerian delegation led by National Sports Commission Chairman Shehu Dikko at FIFA House in Zurich.

Infantino said the talks covered institutional, governance and development issues, as well as ongoing cooperation. He said the discussions explored how FIFA could further support football in Nigeria, a country he described as passionate about the sport.

The meeting comes as Nigerian football enters a reform process. The Nigeria Football Federation’s executive committee resigned after concerns over the state of the game, including the performances of the national and youth teams and the failure of the senior men’s and women’s teams to qualify for their respective World Cups. The federation has also faced scrutiny over governance and financial management.

I was pleased to sit down with a delegation from Nigeria, led by National Sports Commission Chairman Shehu Dikko, at the Home of FIFA in Zürich to hold important discussions and align on our vision for football in the country.

— Gianni InfantinoThe FIFA president described his meeting with the Nigerian delegation.

The NFF said FIFA accepted the resignations of its principal officers and would continue working with the Nigerian government, the NFF administration and the Confederation of African Football on a comprehensive reform roadmap. Further meetings will seek to produce an inclusive new NFF administration and a peaceful, stable environment for football development.

Dikko said the process would follow relevant rules, regulations and statutes. The NFF has installed an interim administrative structure after the resignations of President Ibrahim Gusau and General Secretary Mo...

While stressing the need to create stronger structures and pathways to provide even more opportunities for the youth, we explored areas where FIFA can further support the growth of our beautiful game in this football-passionate country.

— Gianni InfantinoInfantino outlined the development priorities discussed in Zurich.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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