Sports
WAFCON Shame! More reasons Tinubu should act fast on football
By Tony Ubani, Jacob Ajom and Solomon Nwoke
Nigeria has suffered another embarrassing setback in football following Super Falcons’ narrow 1-0 defeat to the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon. Like the Super Eagles, the Super Falcons will now chart the course of an African World Cup playoff to determine their fate of playing in the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil as CAF’s tournament schedule gives the losing quarter-finalists another route, with two classification play-off matches scheduled for Thursday, August 13, in Casablanca.
It will be unimaginable if, for the first time since the beginning of FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, the country’s green-white-green flag fails to flutter among those of best women football playing nations in Brazil next year when the 2027 edition kicks off.
Regrettably, the Super Falcons’ 1-0 defeat is a true reflection of how ill-prepared the team was for the continental tournament, which the NFF knew would also serve as World Cup qualifiers.
The fall of the Super Falcons shows how low Nigerian football has declined under the present leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation headed by Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau. In other climes, heads would have rolled. But not in Nigeria.
In Italy, when the national football team, the Azzurri failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup the government of Italy responded to the national team’s playoff elimination by demanding a total overhaul of the country’s football federation.
Sports Minister, Andrea Abodi, explicitly called for the resignation of Italian Football Federation, FIGC, President, Gabriele Gravina, while lawmakers demanded structural reforms and stricter limits on non-European Union, EU, players to help nurture domestic talent.
Abodi publicly stated that the FIGC President, Gabriele Gravina, should step down. Multiple lawmakers echoed this demand, stating that the leadership needed to be held accountable for the decline of Italian football.
Gravina resigned. He did not leave alone. He was joined by Italian national team delegation chief, Gianluigi Buffon and head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, both of whom stepped down. Gravin’s predecessor, Carlo Tavecchio had also resigned in 2017 when the Azurri failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Multiple national football association (FA) presidents also resigned in the immediate aftermath of their national teams failing to qualify for or exiting early from the World Cup.
Yasser Al-Misehal resigned as President of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation after the Green Falcons suffered a group-stage exit at the 2026 World Cup.
South Korea’s Chung Mong-gyu stepped down as President of the Korea Football Association following South Korea’s group-stage elimination at the 2026 World Cup.
Libyan Football Federation (LFF), President, Abdelhakim Al-Shalmani also resigned from his post for failure to qualify for the World Cup. While heavily linked to team disputes and travel controversies, the decision was announced during an assembly where he stated he did not want to be associated with the failure of Libyan sports .
Scotland also joined the list of countries that made managerial changes after Steve Clarke resigned following the nation’s group-stage elimination. During his tenure, Clarke guided Scotland back to major international tournaments and ended the country’s 28-year absence from the FIFA World Cup.
The Scottish Football Association paid tribute to the 62-year-old, acknowledged his contribution to rebuilding the national team despite the disappointment of the World Cup campaign.
The scale of resignations continued, especially during the last World Cup in the Americas. From Europe to Africa and Asia, coaches who arrived at the tournament with lofty ambitions, saw their tenures come to an abrupt end after failing to meet the expectations of their football-loving nations.
But nothing like that happened in Nigeria. The very officials who presided over the Super Eagles failure to qualify for two consecutive World Cups are currently campaigning vigorously for re-election into the board of the NFF.
Former captain of the Green Eagles and 1980 AFCON winner Chief Segun Odegbami has called on government to act fast and halt the forthcoming NFF elections because, “We must rid NFF of scavengers who have nothing to offer.”
He insisted, it was nothing personal. “It’s not an Odegbami project, it’s a national call to save our football from the stranglehold of scavengers who have nothing to offer other than what they grab in the process. If people decide to peep from the window, I’ll go all the way,” Odegbami said.
In sports, result is the only yardstick for measurement of failure or success. The question being asked by Nigerians is should the the present leadership of the NFF return based on the results on ground?”
Tana Ayejina, the Deputy Editor of Punch Newspapers said, “No. After destroying Nigerian football for over a decade, what else do they have to offer? To cause more damage? Almost every member of the present board was part of the former which Gusau took over from. That board failed to take Nigeria to the World Cup. This present board was given another simple chance of taking Nigeria to the World Cup and they failed. A World Cup with 48 teams, 10 from Africa and Nigeria was not there and you say you want to come back. To do what?” he asked.
“In sports, if you are good, you move on, but if you are not good, you quit,” said Adekunle Salami, a senior editor at New Telegraph Newspapers. “For the NFF board to have failed to qualify Nigeria for two consecutive World Cups, the U17 is not competing, U23 are nowhere and U20 are all failing in their various qualifiers and no longer as competitive as they used to be. We are not playing at the Olympics. Indeed, the question one is forced to ask is, what are they (the board) still doing?”
Things got worse Sunday night when the Super Falcons, 10-time African champions were eliminated by Cameroon from WAFCON in Morocco.
Salami urged Nigerians with the wherewithal to challenge the present board members in the coming election. “What I expect is that Nigerians who have the capacity to right the wrongs that have been committed against Nigerian football should challenge them”.
That means things must change. How does the change come about when the people who are resisting change are still in charge of affairs?”
A former chairman of the League Management Company (now NPFL) Rumson 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.”
Ayejina said that instead of vying to return, members of the current board should resign en mass for failing Nigeria. “In Italy and other countries that failed to qualify for the World Cup, their FA members resigned. I expect that NFF members should resign instead of seeking another term.”
Writing for Saturday Sports Vanguard, Douglas Baye-Osagie reasoned, “for a board that controls the emotions of over 250 million Nigerians worldwide, there must be professionalism. It cannot be business as usual or a group of men with half-baked credentials. Football is a billion-dollar industry with massive job opportunities for our youths. It should not be administered by passion without substance.”
Continuing, Baye-Osagie wrote,” The rule book that governs NFF Board elections is designed to protect incumbents, not performance. Elections are decided by state FA chairmen. A small, compromised pool of voters. Most depend on the board for grants, FIFA/FIFA Forward trips, and survival. You cannot expect independence from people whose jobs depend on the incumbent.”
A former Nigeria international, Ifeanyi Udeze observed that it is almost impossible to unseat Gusau through the present election format. Said he, “It is nearly impossible for an ex-international to contest or win the election under the current rules. We have to call for a change in the NFF Statutes. But then, former players must unite and advocate for such a change to come through.” He pointed out that “They (former players) have the numbers, whether you like it or not. And all of them have passed a vote of confidence in Gusau.”
Udeze maintained that the concentration of voting power among the state FA chairmen makes it difficult for ‘outsiders’, particularly former players, to break into the NFF leadership.
Another former international, Edema Fuludu agrees with Udeze. “There is no level playing field in NFF elections as presently structured. Unless you are a fool, you can’t throw your hat into the ring to contest against the incumbent NFF president. From which constituency?” he asked. “All the 36 state FA Chairmen, plus FCT are under him. That gives him 37 votes out of 45 or so votes. There is no room for fair contest. As it is now, someone like Okocha or Odegbami can only get one vote if they want to contest ”
Fuludu observed that the real actors – players, coaches and referees – whose roles necessitate the existence of administrators – were being ignored or schemed out in favour of those he called ‘outsiders’.
If Nigeria is serious about getting credible and knowledgeable leadership that can chart a noble path for our football, government must act now.
Reactions from governments whose teams even qualified for the World Cup but didn’t shine in the first round, have shown that the silence of Nigerian government over our back-to-back non-qualification is suspicious. The silence has emboldened the NFF leadership to launch an unbridled campaign train never witnessed before in NFF elections.
Ibrahim Gusau, the NFF President has been buying a lot of media space, moving from one geopolitical zone to another seeking endorsement, which he readily gets and telling Nigerians that he was not responsible for Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the World Cup. Despite numerous court injunctions against his board, Gusau has since fixed September 26, 2026 for his anticipated re-election in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Odegbami said, “The elections will be conducted away from any prying eyes to avoid any chances of transparency, and where bribery and corrupt practices can be conducted without consequence, far from the headquarters of the federation and the supervising National Sports Commission that would have ensured neutrality.”
In contrast, Saudi Arabia’s early FIFA World Cup exit prompted their federation chief to resign.
“The failure of the national team to qualify for the next round of the World Cup is a result that falls short of all our ambitions, and I bear full responsibility for it. I offer my apologies to everyone who hoped to see our team in a better position,” Yasser al-Misehal wrote before throwing in the towel.
“A sense of responsibility requires giving the opportunity to open a new chapter, and I have decided not to continue,’’ he added. That is leadership and responsibility. Why don’t we, in this part of the world take responsibility and accountability as part of the burden thrust upon leaders, an inextricable aspect of leadership?
In the case of South Korea, following their shock elimination from the group stage of the World Cup, President Lee Jae-myung publicly apologised to the nation and ordered the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to launch a full-scale government investigation into the Korea Football Association, KFA.
The government’s rapid intervention brought great relief to the people as they try to fashion a way of making progress with fresh and progressive minds.
The country’s leader said he felt “not just confusion but utter bewilderment at the unexpected outcome,” He added that the early exit “appears to be a failure of organisation and personnel.”
The government rebuked the football authorities and took prompt actions. Keeping quiet like the Nigerian government has done, could imply consent.
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