NIGERIA Football Federation president Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau has vowed that his administration will continue towards the improvement of the fortunes of the Super Eagles, Super Falcons, the Falconets, Flying Eagles, Golden Eaglets and Flamingos.
Gusau became the NFF president in September last year after winning the election in Benin City and it has been mixed fortunes on the pitch and some crisis involving payment of entitlements off it.
Gusau said the governing body is working assiduously to ensure that all the national teams perform much better in their various competitions while reviewing the activities of the NFF and the teams in one year of his board in office.
While highlighting the achievements of the past year, which included a first-ever medal at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, quarter-final performance of the Flying Eagles at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, qualification of the Super Eagles to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and one of the best-ever outings by the Super Falcons at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Gusau said the board and secretariat have worked together to enable a more conducive environment for the game in the country.
Although the unpaid bonuses and allowances issue with the teams, especially the Super Falcons, is yet to be fully resolved, Gusau sounded proud of his one year in office.
“One of our priorities on coming into office was to ensure that the football environment was cleansed of so much toxicity that had threatened the health of the game and made some persons feel unwelcome in the system. We have tried our best to give everyone a sense of belonging with a policy of inclusiveness,” he said today in Abuja.
“Off the pitch, we are proud of the work of the Interim Management Committee that we constituted to organize the last NPFL season, which was commended by all stakeholders, and we also feel fulfilled about the constitution of the boards of the NNL, NWFL and NLO with vibrant, knowledgeable and competent individuals who are capable of taking the leagues to the next level. Elections into the state FAs have also been largely peaceful and successful.”
Gusau said his board will work with the secretariat and the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to see the Super Eagles off to a great start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying series and to win the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.
“We also want to see the Super Falcons reclaim their African title and return to the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament,” he added.
“Our expectations include making good progress in our plan for hostel accommodation and some playing pitches for the national teams, through the FIFA Forward 3.0 program, and also see that the U-17 and U-20 women’s national teams achieve their best-ever outings at their different World Cups next year.
“We are working already with the new NPFL board to grow the NPFL into the product that all administrators and stakeholders desire, and also with the boards of the other Leagues to improve the state of our domestic football. To achieve all these, we need money, so we are also looking to work even harder to grow our revenue base through aggressive marketing drive.”
The NFF boss said his team will also not allow any FIFA window for friendly matches to go without the Super Eagles playing.
“As you can see, we have arranged two matches for the Super Eagles in this month’s window, against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique,” he noted.
“Mozambique is in southern Africa where three of our opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, namely Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa, also are. Playing Mozambique is a good opportunity for the team to have a sneak preview of what to expect against these three teams.”
