Sports
‘Playing For Nigeria Is A Privilege, Honour’
Not every footballer that has played for Nigeria see playing for the country as a privilege talk more of an honour. In fact, many Nigerians, both at home and in diaspora regard wearing the national colours and representing the country as doing a favour to Nigeria.
Often times, many would want to be wooed, lobbied or even begged to play for Nigeria, while some, after getting the opportunity would try to hold the country to ransom or give conditions at the slightest opportunity.
However, an ex-international and prominent member of the pioneer national women football team, Super Falcons, particularly, the famours class of ’99Mavis Ogun has declared that playing for and representing one’s country is not only a privilege but an honour for the player.
In a chat with Tidesports recently, Mavis, who played for the Super Falcons between 1991 and 1999, attended three world cup tournaments and played professional football in Europe said that, “it is a privilege to have played for Nigeria, it is an honour that one should appreciate, that out of millions of Nigerians, one is chosen to represent the country. I am proud to be one of the pioneers for the Super Falcons”.
Mavis, who hails from Tofari in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was born in Lagos and raised in Warri, Delta State, she was also raised in Rivers State after having her secondary school at the Prestigious Girls Secondary School, Finima, Bonny.
She cut her football teeth with Rivers Angels Football Club of Port Harcourt before teaming up with Ufuoma Babes of Warri, one of the top four and pioneer female football clubs in Nigeria.
Having joined the first set of national team players in the early days of women football in Africa, Mavis was part of the Super Falcons team that dominated Africa and flew the country and continent’s flags at successive world cup tournaments.
Her set was dominant in the continent, winning the African Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) back-to-back-to-back nine times. She was in the famous 1999 set that got to the quarter final stage of the women’s World Cup in USA, a feat no other set of the falcons has attained till date.
She is currently based in the United States of America where she is engaged in the health sector in New York. She obtained her first degree at the Delta State University, Abraka, played professional football with German clubs, Wolfsburg and Postdarm Fcs before quitting active football in 2003.
Only a couple of weeks ago, the Super Falcons’ 1999 set was reunited in Nigeria when the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, for the first time officially recognised and hosted members of the Super Falcons team that was the pride of Nigeria at their time. The occasion was the Nigeria Football Federation’s Aiteo/NFF Awards ceremony 2021 in Lagos.
The Falcons’ class of ’99 was honoured by the federation for what they achieved for the country. According to the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, the 1999 set, which had the likes of Rita Nwadike, Stella Mbachu, Mercy Akide, Florence Omagbemi, Nkiru Okosiems, Patience Avre, Maureen Madu, Prisca Emeafu, Eberechi Opara, Kikelomo Ajayi, Adanna Nwaneri, Martha Tarhemba, Yinka Kudaisi, Gloria Usieta, Florence Iweta, late Ifeanyi Chiejine, Ann Chiegine and Judith Chime, were not only heroes but legends of the game in Nigeria and Africa.
“The performance of the 1999 class of Super Falcons at the 1999 world cup in USA remains stated in the memory and it is important that we honour them with a special recognition award,” said Pinnick, days before the ceremony.
At the world cup, the Falcons had beaten North Korea 2-1 before losing 1-7 to USA, despite scoring first in the match.
After the loss, however, the Falcons regrouped and beat Denmark 2-0 to qualify for the quarter final. It was the first time that the women world cup would be expanded to 16 teams.
In the quarter finals at the Jack Kent Cooke stadium near Washington DC, the Falcons stormed back from three goals down in the first half to Brazil to tie the game 3-3, with goals from Prisca Emeafu, Nkiru Okosieme and Nkechi Egbe. They however, lost in extra-time after 104 minutes, in what was the very first time a women’s competitive game was decided by the golden goal rules.
Reacting to the honour and recognition accorded the class of ’99 of the Super Falcons by the NFF, Mavis was grateful.
“To be recognised and honoured for an achievement is great”, said Mavis. “That the highest point of any career, to be appreciated. It took 22 years for us to be recongnised and appreciated, we are grateful that it happened. The present leadership of NFF has done well, I am happy and grateful that at last, I and my colleagues have been shown appreciation, our records are yet to be matched.”
On her personal feeling on the night of the ceremony, she said, “that’s the best thing that has happened to me, to be together once again with my team mates, it was as if we had never parted, the feeling and memories of the past were too much as we had the opportunity to go down the memory lane again.”
Despite having been living in the United States for more than 20 years now, Mavis still has huge attachment and fond memories of Nigeria. According to her, “I love Nigeria and would remain grateful to the country. If you chose to go by what you see and hear in the social media, you wouldn’t want to come back to the country, but I am happy to be Nigerian and to be home.”
The defender, known for her robust style of play in her days said that she would readily relive her life as a footballer and harbours no regrets for being a footballer and playing for Nigeria. In fact, she expressed readiness to encourage any of her children, male or female to play football to the highest level and represent the country.
“I am proud to be a footballer and one of the pioneers of Super Falcons. I’ll not only encourage my daughter or son to play football, I’ll support them to play and play for Nigeria, the national colours are very precious.”
Unfortunately, Mavis and her class of ’99 were on the front row seats to witness the recent beating the Super Falcons suffered in the hands of the Banyana Banyana of South Africa. The South Africa beat Nigeria 4-2 to win the maiden Aisha Buhari Cup in Lagos, a couple of weeks ago.
For Mavis, the result and Falcons’ performance were unacceptable. “In our time, no team in Africa could come close, it was so sad that South Africa beat us 4-2 in our own backyard and I was groaning on my seat watching the game and felt like jumping into the field.”
On what has changed from her time and the present Falcons, Mavis said, “For us then, our passion was key. The zeal, dedication, discipline and devotion to hardwork were second to none. The national jersey meant more than money.”
She feels that most of the present crop of players, though talented, lack passion, fighting spirit and discipline. “I think that now they have become professionals and earn more money, they have grown lazy and have less passion,” she said.
She called on the Super Falcons and indeed all women footballers in the country to be committed, train hard, observe discipline and work hard in order to lift and sustain the level of the game. It is her position that after leading women football in Africa for so long, Nigeria cannot afford to play second fiddle to any country, especially within the continent.
She advised that the national team handlers should always ensure timely preparation, particularly camping, good programming and quality coaching in order to ensure that the game does not suffer downward trend in the country.
She believes that concerted efforts should be made to further develop the local leagues for good organisation and efficiency, which would in turn rub off on the home based players.
On the usual arguments over foreign and local coaches, foreign and home-based players, Mavis said that what is paramount for success is good preparation, good selection and blending of players and sound programming ahead of any competition.
“There’s nothing wrong in depending on professionals if they are good enough, but astute blending of local and foreign-based professionals will yield the needed result.”
Former players, she believes, should have one or two roles or contributions to make in the national teams. Perhaps, that is why she expressed happiness over the NFF’s President’s hint at the awards ceremony of the federation’s readiness to work with the ex-players.
“We’re happy that Pinnick wants to work with our set and bring us close to the national team. We’re still a family after 22years and I and others will want to contribute to the national team if given the chance,” she stated.
By: Gabriel Nwanetanya
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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