Sports
NFF Gets Knocks, Described As Illegal
For many Nigerians the outcome of the 2026 FIFA World Cup did not matter much, the pain of not having been represented by the country’s flagship team, the Super Eagles have remained the sour point of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A former chairman of the League Management Company, now NPFL, Rumson Victor Baribote said it was unthinkable that Nigeria, the giant of Africa, was absent out of ten countries that represented Africa at the Mundial..”It is something I don’t even want to think about. For a team that once ranked fifth in the whole world, it was embarrassing not to have qualified for the World Cup. It is a shame. It is not something that should be remembered or even thought about.”
Baribote is not alone. Former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Association(now NFF) Alhaji Sani Toro said, “It is unfortunate that we have failed to go to the World Cup in two consecutive editions. Our football has gone down and the government doesn’t seem to have the will to do anything about it.”
A former Nigeria international, Edema Fuludu echoed, “Every Nigerian football fan is still bitter that in two consecutive World Cups we did not attend. It shows that we need to do more, apart from just talking. We must work on the talk.” Working the talk, Fuludu insisted, means “the NFF must not go the former round where we just talk about going back to the drawing board when we don’t have a drawing board. Nigeria has to be in the next World Cup.” That means things must change. How does the change come about when the people who are resisting change are still in charge of affairs?
Corroborating Fuludu’s fears, Baribote said, “ If we were in a saner clime, those who are at the helm of affairs should have humbly stepped aside honourably and relinquished their positions, but not here.”
The bigger worry is that the Nigeria Football Federation has fixed September 26 for its elective congress which will produce a new executive. Almost all members of the present board want to return and campaigns are already in high gear. The campaign slogan of the NFF President Ibrahim Gusau is ‘continuity’
Toro said nothing will change as the September election has already been concluded. “This coming election is already concluded,” he told this writer. “They will only remove one or two people who do not agree with them. So don’t expect any change at the end of the election. The same people will come back.”
Asked if he was interested in the forthcoming election, Fukudu laughed it off. “Only a fool will throw his hat into the ring for a fight he knows he cannot win,” he said. “There is no level playing field,” he remarked, adding, “It’s good to be ambitious, but there is no level playing field. Under which platform will I be coming from? You must come from a platform which can give you some votes. Now there is a lot of inequality(imbalance) in the way votes are being given at NFF elections. That is what the players’ Union has been fighting. Let us have a level playing field so that knowledgeable people can willingly go to contest. As it is now, someone like Okocha or Odegbami can only get one vote if they want to contest. For instance, if I am coming from a state FA there is no way I can contest for the Presidency against the incumbent because he is on top of the FAs; where they have 36 votes plus. If I am coming from the players Union I will have only one vote, a coach has only one vote. So where is the fairness in it? That is the problem; no level playing ground. So it is not as if one doesn’t want to be ambitious. There is no fairness in the whole thing. Unless you are a fool, you can’t just throw your hat into the ring because you won’t get the vote required to win”.
Baribote assured that something can still be done to correct the imbalance in the voting pattern before the September election. He argued that the real actors who make football possible were being relegated in the running of their own affairs by those he termed as ‘outsiders’.
“If you look at a football match,” he began, “who are those that are the real actors on the pitch? The players, the referees and the coaches and here they don’t have the opportunity to manage their own affairs, while those that are not active are the people calling the shots. That is why we are having this problem.”
He continued, “out of 44 voting rights, the FAs get 36, with FCT it becomes 37. So, how can one unit produce a president at the expense of the other four? And even the League chairmen that are supposed to be elected, are appointed into office by the NFF board.
“Now the NFF just pick whoever they like and impose him on the clubs as League chairman, Who elected him? I was chairman of the league at the time, I was elected by the clubs.”
Baribote said FIFA recognizes that clubs elect or appoint their own person, not somebody coming to interfere. So, there’s a lot of illegality going on.
“Even in the Nigerian constitution, for you to be president, you must have at least two thirds of votes in a number of states. But in the Nigerian Football Federation, it’s only one unit, which is the state FAs, that elect instead of the collective mandate of all the stakeholders.”
Justifying his objection to the status quo, Baribote said, “Now, let me give you one simple analogy. For you to be a referee in Nigeria, to officiate games, you must have passed through training or a test of the Nigerian Referee Association, to qualify as an NRA member. To be a coach, you must have the minimum qualification of the NIS as a coach and to be a member of the players’ union, you must have played professionally. That is the qualification. Now tell me what qualifies the FA Chairmen? Nothing.”
Fuludu said, the fight to correct the imbalance has been on for long. “Even the Players Union led by Harrison Jalla had to go to court but some of us in the union decided not to go the same route and avoid the courts by talking to some stakeholders and people in the National Sports Commission. The so-called amendments made at the Extraordinary Assembly in Bayelsa were cosmetic. If anything, it shows that they still don’t want to provide a level-playing field. There is no verifiable change.”
We asked if it has become a helpless case? His answer was blunt. “It appears so, unless the government steps in and says, ‘enough of this. Let us have a comprehensive list and let no one threaten us with FIFA, so that people with real interest and good intentions for Nigeria football will come out to contest. Once they are assured of a level playing field, the best candidates will come out to contest”.
Toro who supervised one of the most successful eras of Nigerian football said the situation can only be rectified by the government. The NFF Statutes that appear so lopsided can be amended to reflect fairness and equal representation of stakeholders if the government stands firm. “It is easy to deal with and nobody should threaten us with FIFA sanctions. Unfortunately, the government has not demonstrated enough will to effect the desired change. The chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko said there will be changes but I think only a miracle can bring about this change.”
Baribote declared that the present board of NFF cannot be talking about another election when the election that brought them to power had been declared illegal by the Appeal Court.
Said he, “We shouldn’t be talking about whether they should come back because their being in office alone is illegal. There is a standing order given by the Court of Appeal dated 19th January, 2024 that nullified their election. They filed an appeal and the Court of Appeal on the 29th of September, 2022 gave an interim order when they looked at the propriety of their appeal and on January 19th, 2024, struck out their appeal and further directed the deletion of that appeal number from the court of appeal. Yet they are in office. We have filed contempt proceedings, we have filed for the enforcement of that order. They are still in office. So, you see that there is no legal mandate putting them in office because the election that put them there, in the first place, is still being challenged in the court of Appeal and they want to go ahead with another election because they have no respect for judicial pronouncements and the rule of law.
Like I said, one day a Moses will come that will take us to the Promise Land. So, we are on it, we are not going back. So, ordinarily, in the eyes of the law, they are not even known because their being in office is illegal.”
Nigerian football fans and former internationals may have finally joined the call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save Nigerian football from the grip of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), demanding a complete overhaul and the resignation of the board following a series of national-team heartbreaks, including the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their second consecutive absence and the Super Falcons’ recent loss of an automatic qualification spot for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Until now, football legend Segun Odegbami has been a lone voice in the vanguard of those calling on the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF board to step aside. However, many ex-internationals, angered that the national embarrassment has now spilled over to the women’s team, have joined the call to “save our football.”
“We are demanding a total systemic clear-out and consequences at every tier of Nigerian football,” one of the former players said yesterday, pleading to remain anonymous to avoid “arrows” from what he described as desperate officials holding Nigerian football by the jugular.
Ahead of the September 27, 2026 elective congress of the NFF, scheduled to hold in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Chairman of the Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reforms Initiative, Prince Harrison Jalla, has also painted a gloomy picture of the future of Nigerian football.
Jalla’s position is in tandem with that of some aspirants who are also crying blue murder, alleging that the electoral procedure is skewed in favour of incumbent NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau to secure a smooth passage to a second term unopposed.
Jalla insisted that “all indicators are pointing to a gloomy picture for the future of Nigerian football, mainly due to administrative ineptitude, while the gladiators remain engrossed and fixated on the election.”
“The major crux of the election is the guidelines, which make it very difficult for other candidates to secure endorsements from across the six geopolitical zones to challenge Gusau.
“The NFF elective congress creates a skewed voting structure because [certain blocs] hold an overwhelming majority of the voting power, which critics argue marginalises key football stakeholders such as club owners, players, coaches, referees and sports writers.
“Out of the total delegates and voting structure, the 37 State FA chairmen form the primary voting bloc, making it difficult for independent candidates to win.
“This is so because of the marriage between the FA chairmen and the NFF. Most FA chairmen depend solely on the Federation for favours. Over time, during national and international engagements, the NFF uses such opportunities to reward the FA chairmen with trips and estacodes.
“They have been so compromised that no Jupiter would make them see reasons for a change. The system, therefore, heavily favours the incumbent leadership seeking re-election. That explains why they were in a hurry to pass a vote of confidence in the NFF leadership even when Nigerian football became topsy-turvy.
“As desperation has beclouded their reasoning, they have forgotten how low they have dragged Nigerian football.”
A cursory look at the catalogue of failures by Nigeria’s national teams will reveal this;
Super Eagles (Senior Men): Failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Their campaign ended in agonising fashion in November 2025 during the CAF playoff final, when they lost 4–3 on penalties to DR Congo. This marked the second consecutive World Cup missed by the senior national team. Earlier, in January 2026, they were also eliminated from the 2025 AFCON via a penalty shootout.
Super Falcons (Senior Women): Suffered an early continental exit by losing 1–0 to Cameroon in the 2026 WAFCON quarter-finals. The defeat stripped them of an automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, forcing them into an inter-confederation playoff route. Worse still, Banyana Banyana of South Africa stopped the Super Falcons with a 2-1 defeat in Morocco, marking Nigeria’s worst outing in the history of WAFCON.
Golden Eaglets (Men’s U-17): Failed to qualify for the U-17 AFCON and subsequently missed out on three consecutive FIFA U-17 World Cups — 2023, 2025 and 2026.
Flying Eagles (Men’s U-20): Missed both the 2026 U-20 AFCON and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Olympic Team (Men’s U-23): Failed to qualify for the 2023 U-23 AFCON, which directly resulted in their failure to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
An official NFF apology to the government and Nigerians was met with backlash, with fans dismissing it as “too little, too late” and “one apology too many”, while demanding actual resignations.
The current frustration among fans stems from what they regard as an unprecedented catalogue of systemic failures across all tiers of Nigeria’s national teams.
Segun Odegbami said the failures had become one too many.
“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.
“That’s the measure. If you have a coach who 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 and, if we go back to that route, we are going to fail as we have failed before,” he said.
The financial damage from missing recent major tournaments is equally devastating, with total losses estimated at between ?150 billion and ?300 billion in direct payouts and broader economic partnerships.
This continuous string of qualification failures has effectively choked off the federation’s primary revenue pipelines and left its local development initiatives starved of funds.
The economic wreckage breaks down across several critical areas. By failing to reach the expanded World Cup, the NFF forfeited a guaranteed baseline participation fee of $10.5 million, reportedly worth roughly ?15.5 billion.
This single tournament loss wiped out an amount equivalent to roughly 87 per cent of the NFF’s projected annual operational budget. Had the Super Eagles advanced beyond the group stage, the rewards would have risen above $12 million, while reaching the quarter-finals could have yielded up to $20 million in performance-related payments.
Early exits by the Super Falcons and the qualification failures of the youth teams, U-17, U-20 and U-23, mean the NFF has also missed out on vital developmental subsidies and travel grants normally provided by continental governing bodies.
Corporate organisations and major sports betting companies are scaling back their sponsorship valuations. Without global television exposure, the NFF cannot command premium rates for brand placement.
The federation also misses out on potential revenue from global jersey sales, training gear and licensed supporter memorabilia that normally spike around major tournaments.
By missing out on tournament participation, Nigeria also loses leverage to draw heavily from FIFA’s financial programmes aimed at upgrading domestic training academies and pitches.
Consecutive missed World Cups have further lowered the market value of the national team brand, making future broadcast and marketing rights significantly harder to sell at a premium.
Former Ajax midfielder Hedwiges Maduro has praised Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare, highlighting the forward’s strength and power and suggesting that he could prove valuable to Ajax in the Eredivisie.
Arokodare joined Ajax from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan in July, with the Dutch club holding an option to make the move permanent.
He has already made an impact for his new side, providing an assist in Ajax’s 2-0 victory over PEC Zwolle in their opening Eredivisie fixture.
Maduro discussed Arokodare’s qualities during an appearance on ESPN’s Voetbalpraat, where he assessed how the Nigerian could complement Ajax’s attacking options.
He sees Arokodare as offering a different profile to Marcos Leonardo, particularly against opponents who defend deep and limit the space available for attacking runs.
Speaking about the Nigerian striker, Maduro highlighted his physical qualities and explained why he believes they could make him a valuable option for Ajax in the Dutch top flight.
“I think Tolu has something special, in terms of strength and power. I think he can be of real value in the Eredivisie,” Maduro said, as quoted by Ajax Showtime.
According to Maduro, the tactical demands of certain matches could make Arokodare’s physical presence an important option for Ajax, especially when opponents retreat towards their own penalty area.
He contrasted the situation with Leonardo, who he believes benefits from having space to make attacking runs. Maduro explained that when teams defend deep, those spaces become more difficult to find.
“Leonardo needs space. If teams drop back completely, where are you going to make those runs?
Then you get more use out of Tolu as a focal point to drop the ball,” he added.
The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, LOC, of the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026, Ugochukwu Oputa, has said that over 25 states across Nigeria were involved in the second edition of the Arsenal Converge scheduled for Port Harcourt from August 14 to 16, 2026.
Oputa disclosed this on Sunday after the Converge meeting at the Ediz Wine Bar in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to him, Arsenal’s popularity cuts across the nation, and the Converge is organized to provide a period for supporters to network, interact, and harmonize.
“Knowing how Arsenal’s popularity is spread across the nation, it became necessary that all the different supporters of Arsenal club across the country harmonize and create a particular period where we can meet, network and interact,” Oputa said.
He outlined the five-day schedule of activities to include
Press conference,
Environmental sanitation and community service at Mile 1 Market, Diobu, involving both visitors and residents, arrival, welcome and cocktail party. Others included Games Day, football competition and other fun activities at the Rivers State University football pitch, Community Shield watch party yesterday, where all Arsenal supporters’ groups met, interacted, and discussed the future of Arsenal, including plans for the 2027 hosting rights of the Converge.
Oputa added that this year’s Converge which was in Port Harcourt, had over 3,000 fans registered.
“Port Harcourt Arsenal Community is a recognized supporters’ club of Arsenal in London and we have over 25 states that participated in the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026,” he said.
Also speaking, a member of the Nigeria Arsenal Supporters Working Committee, Nsikak Ntia, said that what distinguishes Arsenal supporters is their offline community impact.
“What we are doing here in Port Harcourt is beyond football. It’s a family that is growing. We had over 3,000 to 4,000 people on Saturday at the Rivers State University that shared the confidence that Arsenal represents,” Ntia said.
He noted that the club’s motto, ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ – ‘Victory Through Harmony’ – is the bedrock of the group.
“The work that we do at Mile 1 Market is to help with environmental protection and increase what we do in society.
“We also have future plans to promote environmental protection and better ways to handle waste.
“These are things that are germane for our future, the future of our young people and generations unborn.
” It goes beyond football, it goes beyond banter, it goes beyond yapping at each other.
“That is what Arsenal Football Club is all about. Arsenal has the most well-organized supporters’ club in Nigeria and Africa’ he sated.
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