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Tag: Amaju Pinnick

  • NFF supports Oliseh’s U-turn on selection criteria

    NFF supports Oliseh’s U-turn on selection criteria

    The Nigeria Football Federation has thrown its weight behind new Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh’s decision to change his criteria for invitation of players to the national team.

    Oliseh had on Monday through his YouTube page announced a change in his initial position not to invite players who are not playing in top-flight leagues in the world.

    The Eagles coach noted that goalkeepers and outfield players plying their trade in the lower leagues and who are exceptional would now be considered for invitation to the Super Eagles.

    NFF president Amaju Pinnick in a chat with africanFootball.com said “We support everything Oliseh is doing. He knows what’s best for his team and I can tell you that Oliseh has been working since he left the country.

    “I am particularly impressed at his work ethics and professionalism. There is no action he takes that he does not first inform us (NFF) on the rationale behind the decision and the motive he intends to achieve with such a decision.”

    “We need to give him time because everything he does is in the best interest of the country. We don’t have a problem with his change of position.”

    Oliseh is expected to announce his list of call-ups for the 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier against Tanzania in the coming week.

  • NFF plans consortium of coaches for Eagles

    NFF plans consortium of coaches for Eagles

    The Nigeria Football Federation plans to hire a consortium of coaches for the Super Eagles, the federation’s president, Amaju Pinnick, has disclosed.

    Former Super Eagles skipper, Sunday Oliseh, has been widely touted to replace the sacked Stephen Keshi, but Pinnick has now told africanFootball.com the NFF want to do something different as regards the top coaching post for the Eagles by hiring a team of top coaches.

    “Yes I am going to have a meeting, but it’s not just with Oliseh. It’s going to be a collective meeting with others. We are setting up a team (of coaches),” Pinnick told africanFootball.com

    “It could be a foreign technical assistant, it could be a consortium of coaches, but we see this as an opportunity to deviate from the norm.

    “We want what is best for Nigeria, that is why we have been speaking to a lot of people.

    “We do not want to go through that usual way of collecting CV’s and interviewing. We know what we want and we want to go for it.”

    Pinnick further disclosed the NFF plan to announce its decision later on Wednesday.

    “Later today we would let Nigerians know our direction,” he said.

  • Pinnick demands 200% from Eagles

    Pinnick demands 200% from Eagles

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has restated his charge to Super Eagles players, saying they must give 200 per cent every time they play for the country.

    “We have told all players that from henceforth when they see an invite we expect that once you accept to come, you must be ready to give 200 per cent for the country,” africanFootball.com quoted Pinnick as saying at a press conference in Abuja.

    “That is why we are having the code of conduct. So, it is not business as usual.

    “We have asked players to think over an invitation before they accept to come and don the white and green colours.”

    The team begins its quest to feature at the 2017 African Nations Cup against Chad next month.

    The NFF boss equally gave more insight to the recent kit contract the country entered with Nike.

    “We had a lot of challenges securing sponsors. I almost wept signing money for us to buy jerseys. I started this Nike talks in Malabo,” he offered.

    “For Nike to even say yes, I know people I talked to before they eventually called me for a meeting. I am not telling you that it’s a dream contract because if you want to have a dream contract you must achieve some mileage for instance winning the World Cup.

    “We had to do a lot of convincing before getting this deal. For the fact that we are not going to buy jerseys, we are going to get accumulated bonuses better than some big countries.

    “But the truth is that the contract process was tricky, that is why we did not make it public initially.

    “If we had made it public like many Nigerians had wanted, maybe today we would not have a sponsor. But today we can beat our chest to say we signed with the biggest brand.”

     

  • Why Keshi will get new contract – Pinnick

    Why Keshi will get new contract – Pinnick

    NFF president Amaju Pinnick has said Stephen Keshi will be given a new contract because “he has won everything” and only needs to be supported to improve his capacity and that of the team.

    Keshi has yet to be given a new contract since his initial deal ran out after the World Cup in Brazil last year.

    “You will agree with me that Keshi has won everything; he just needs to be enhanced in terms of building his capacity and that is exactly what we intend to do,” said Pinnick.

    “It’s like when you are building a house and you feel that the house needs to be enhanced so you put other structures for enhancement and that’s what we are going to do.”

    He added: “Keshi is going to be offered a new contract. But in the contract we are going to have certain clauses working with the technical study group, working with the technical committee, working with the technical department.

    “And making sure in terms of player selection, there is science of players which means fitness and so many other things. So, all those are the things that are going to be embedded in the contract.

    “When they are embedded in the contract we are also looking at areas that will improve our performance. That when there is any window we will be able to send him on internship, attachment to various clubs in Europe. All those are things we are doing to enhance his capacity.”

    But the NFF executive committee has remained divided over a new deal for the coach with a section canvassing for Keshi to stay on in the hope they will finally gain the support of the government.

    In October, Keshi was “unanimously” sacked by the executive committee, but soon after he was re-instated with most reports claiming that this was at the instance of the country’s President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Keshi has been variously linked with other countries with Equatorial Guinea the latest reported to be keen to hire him, but they eventually settled for the Argentine Esteban Becker to lead them at the Nations Cup, which starts on Saturday.

  • We made Keshi a new offer – Pinnick

    We made Keshi a new offer – Pinnick

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that they have begun contract talks with out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.

    Keshi’s contract ended after Nigeria’s exit at the last World Cup in Brazil and even though he handled the team albeit on a temporary basis during Nigeria’s ill-fated Africa Cup of Nations 2015 qualifying campaign, the Glass House had yet to offer him fresh terms.

    However, weeks after confirming that Keshi would continue as the Super Eagles coach, Pinnick has now confirmed that they have started contract talks with the “Big Boss.”

    “We have a very peculiar nature in Nigeria and we don’t want a situation where we run into problems but we have made an offer to him and he says he doesn’t like it,” Pinnick told sl10.ng.

    “He has sent it back to us and it will go back to our legal department and they’ll look at the implications and we shall insert other clauses to see if he will accept them.

    “So to us, we want to be very thorough and that is why it is taking this long but I can assure you that very soon that everything about the technical crew will come to an end.”

    The Pinnick led NFF had earlier sacked Keshi after Nigeria defeated Sudan 3-1 during the 2015 AFCON qualifiers, but the board was forced to reinstate him after coming under serious pressure and now seem to be on the verge of re-signing the former Nigeria captain to what is believed to be a four year contract worth N84million.

  • Pinnick wants Super Eagles’ spot to be more competitive

    Pinnick wants Super Eagles’ spot to be more competitive

    Embattled  president  of  Nigeria  football  federation,  Amaju  pinnick  has  called  for  wider  opportunities  to  be  created  in  the  senior  national  team  of  Nigeria  for  both  local  and  foreign  based  players  who  are  willing  to  play  so  as  to  prove  their  worth  and  their  God’s  given  talent  in  professional  football  in  service  to  their  nation,  Nigeria.

    According  to  the  NFF  president,  this  will  make  positions  in  the  Super  Eagles  squad  to  be  keenly  contested  for  and  this  will in-turn  boost  the  level  of  performance  of  the  team  in  competitive  football  and  the  national  side  will  be  a  force  to  reckon  with  internationally.

    Amaju  pinnick  who  had  earlier  assisted  the  likes  of  Hope  Akpan  and  Sone  Aluko  says  he  will  not  relent  in  his  effort  to  improve  the  performance  of  the  country  in  football  competition.  “One  example  of  our  mid-term  plan  is  that  we  have  about  twenty  Nigerian  players  in  the  premier  league  but  you’ve  not  seen  them  feature  but  we  are  talking  to  them  already  and  we  have  to  make  them  understand  that  they  have  chances  to  play  for  Nigeria.  That  is  our  medium  term,” he  concluded.

     

  • AFCON failure: Nigeria will bounce back – NFF

    AFCON failure: Nigeria will bounce back – NFF

    The Nigeria Football Federation has promised the Super Eagles will bounce back from the failure to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup while accepting full responsibility for the team’s results.

    The African champions battled back to draw with South Africa in Uyo on Wednesday, when the narrowest margin of victory was needed, and left the country’s teeming football fans in sour mood, africanFootball.com reports.

    But NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, stated that it was a time for sober reflection rather than trading of blames or looking for scapegoats.

    “The NFF takes full responsibility for what has happened,” he said.

    “It is a tragedy for us to come so near and yet fail to reach the finals. We made so much effort and sacrifice in Congo to achieve the victory we needed there on Saturday and really had no business bungling it here.

    “However, our commitment is to build a sustainable football culture in the country and nothing has changed. This is a disappointment but for us, we gave it our best shot and supported the team fully.”

    Pinnick said Wednesday’s failure could turn out to be blessing in disguise.

    “All things work together for good for those that love God, according to Romans 8:28. This has happened but we believe it will work together for us to toil hard and achieve a renaissance that will take Nigeria football to much higher heights than it has ever been,” he added.

    “I use this opportunity to thank the Akwa Ibom State Government for all the support they gave the team and the assistance they offered the NFF.

    “This is a dark moment but we will emerge into sunshine shortly,” africanFootball.com quoted the NFF president s saying on Thursday.

  • Akwa Ibom Stadium will host world class matches – Pinnick

    Akwa Ibom Stadium will host world class matches – Pinnick

    The President of Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, on Friday declared that the new Akwa Ibom Stadium Complex in Uyo will host world class matches.

    Speaking at the last minute rehearsals for the official commissioning of the stadium by President Goodluck Jonathan, Pinnick said he was a fulfilled man seeing such edifice in Nigeria.

    Stressing that the NFF is going to take full advantage of the well crafted edifice for world class matches, he said the stadium will henceforth be the home to Super Eagles and Super Falcons.

    He said, “This is my second coming. I feel very fulfilled and like I said, this is the home of the NFF, this is the home of the Super Eagles, this is the home of the Super Falcons. And we are very proud to have been associated with the government of Akwa-Ibom State.”

    “It is an edifice that is so well crafted and I can assure you that you will be seeing first class marches. We are going to take good advantage of this edifice in making sure that we bring in first class marches, A-rated marches to this stadium.”

    On whether the NFF will still continue to use the nearby Calabar stadium, Pinnick said, “why not? Calabar is part of Nigeria. Why won’t they enjoy. They are the next door neighbour to Akwa Ibom, but this is at the moment, you know we just got elected last month and we were elected into a new edifice.”

    Speaking on the maintenance of the edifice, Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, said he has already signed 10 years maintenance agreement with Julius Berger.

    He said, ‎”This was done by Julius Berger and you know that they are very good, they’ve been around for over 35 years in Nigeria. And it is a foreign company that has cut a niche for itself in the construction industry in this country.”

    “So, I have signed 10 years contract maintenance with them because I don’t want this to ever go down. Like I told the Former President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, for me I’m very humbled to have had the opportunity to present this to Africa.”

     

    “And I believe that from here, Africa will produce a lot of champions. Never again should we go for Olympics and come back without gold medal, never again. That is why I’ve presented this to Africa.”

  • Keshi sacked in Nigeria’s interest – Pinnick

    Keshi sacked in Nigeria’s interest – Pinnick

    The Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick, has explained the rationale behind the sacking of Stephen Keshi.

    The new NFF board showed Keshi the exit on Thursday morning as national team coach, despite his side’s 3-1 home win against Sudan that kept the Super Eagles in the running for the 2015 African Nations Cup in Morocco.

    Pinnick said the decision not to renew the contract of the former Nigerian international was in the best interest of the nation.

    “Does it sound right for us to say that the Eagles played for Keshi and not for the country? So if a new coach comes in now, what would they do? We took the decision in the best interest of the nation.

    “We also saw a lot of things that had happened in the past as there were issues that bothered about security because it was from the beginning of our game against Sudan that a hero in Keshi was booed.

    “We took this decision to save Keshi and let him know that he’s a hero and should remain a hero,” supersport.com quoted Pinnick as saying on Friday morning.

    The NFF president also added that Keshi and his assistants would be paid all their outstanding entitlements within two weeks.

  • Umeh okays Pinnick as NFF president

    Umeh okays Pinnick as NFF president

    The immediate past Nigeria Football Federation first vice president, Mike Umeh, has expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the elections.

    The NFF elections in Warri which elected the Delta State FA chairman, Amaju Pinnick, as president saw the Anambra State FA chairman picking no vote from the 44-member elective delegates.

    Umeh said he has decided to abide by the popular decision of the delegates as he offered himself in the first instance for the presidency of the federation to further advance the course of football development and not for self gain or any other ulterior purposes.

    “The election went very well and was able to produce a new NFF president in the person of Mr. Amaju Pinnick.

    “I’m satisfied with the outcome as well as the choice of the majority, we can’t be winners at the same time.

    “I’ve decided to abide by the outcome of the election as I never entered into the race for self enrichment but for the growth and development of the game.

    “I’m not a trouble maker and won’t start at this age and time to learn how to make trouble.

    “I quite understand that there is no 100 per cent perfect election anywhere in the world. What we witnessed in Warri on Tuesday is not an exception as there are flaws but we won’t continue to dwell on it rather to look forward to the brighter part of life,” Umeh told supersport.com.

    He, however, declined comment whether the last has been heard of the discordant voices that preceded the elections.

    “No, no, I won’t want to comment on that issue, the key for me is for enduring peace to return to the football house,” he stated.