The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nff

  • NFF, CFF, Congo to share gate- takings 50-50

    NFF, CFF, Congo to share gate- takings 50-50

    •Eagles to get $150,000
    •Each player to get $3,000 per game as appearance fees
    •No match bonuses for either victories or drawn games

    Sportinglife can reveal exclusively today that the three federations (Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), their Cameroonian and Congolese counterparts have agreed to share the gate-takings of the two international friendlies against the Super Eagles on October 8 and  11 on a 50-50 basis.

    Sportinglife scooped further that the three federations decided to pay their players’ movement during the tournament, their accomodation and allowances, in a bid to secure the October 2015 FIFA free days for international friendlies across the globe.

    Interestingly, each of the 25 Super Eagles players invited for the friendly matches  will be paid $3,000 per game.

    The culminative effect of this arrangement shows that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will cough out $150,000 as appearance fees for the two matches for each of the 25 players at $6,000 for the two matches against Congo and Cameroon.

    It was gathered further that the NFF directed its accounts department to send to each of the invited players a return ticket, a developemnt meant to stall the ridiculous figures spent on ticket refunds to players when they purchased them.

    Sportinglife gathered also that no player would be paid a dime as bonuses, even if the team wins or draws the two matches against Congo in Mons and Cameroon at the 12,000 capacity Stade Van Roy in Denderleeuw, Belgium.

  • NFF spokesman refutes Dream Team for CHAN qualifiers

    NFF spokesman refutes Dream Team for CHAN qualifiers

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) spokesperson Ademola Olajire has clarified a statement credited to him in the media that the U-23 team will play the CHAN qualifiers against Burkina Faso next month.

    He said he was misquoted by the media. He insisted the home-based Eagles will play the game, but several members of the U-23 team will be included in the team.

    “What I said was that a good number of U-23 boys are in the team. I never said the U-23 boys would be the team to play against Burkina Faso,” Olajire said.

    Nigeria will welcome Burkina Faso to Port Harcourt on October 18 with the return leg in Ouagadougou a week later.

    The overall winners will qualify for the 2016 CHAN in Rwanda.

  • NFF laments Dream Team, Super Falcons failures

    NFF laments Dream Team, Super Falcons failures

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has expressed disappointment at the failures of the Dream Team VI and the Super Falcons to win their respective semi-final matches at the ongoing All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville.

    The Dream Team VI, having started with so much promise by beating Ghana 2-0 in their first game, were expected to go all the way, and the 1-1 draw against Senegal in the final group game didn’t seem to diminish such expectations.

    But faced with the Young Stallions of Burkina Faso in the semi-final in what was expected to be a tough but winnable game for the Nigerians, the juice turned sour as they were beaten 3-1 by the Burkinabes on Tuesday.

    For the Super Falcons, it was also a perfect start to the competition, as they thrashed hosts Congo 5-1 in their opening fixture, and won 3-0 against Tanzania in the second game. They ,however, lost 1-2 to  Ivory Coast in the final group game, before losing by the same scoreline to Cameroon – a development which means the best both teams can get now is the Bronze medal.

    Reacting to both teams’ disappointment,  General Secretary of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi, who admitted he was not happy with the outcome of the games.

    “Just like every Nigerian, I am not happy with the results of the teams,” Sanusi told a local radio station in Lagos.

    “We had a lot of confidence in the teams that they were good enough because we gave them good preparations and they went there and they were playing well but it hasn’t turned out well.

    “For the Falcons, they conceded very cheap goals during set pieces and allowed careless goals.

    “They tried to come back but the goals refused to come,” Sanusi lamented.

    The Dream Team will now play Congo in the losers’ final, while the Falcons play Ivory Coast.

  • Nigeria to face Congo, Cameroon in friendlies

    Nigeria to face Congo, Cameroon in friendlies

    Super Eagles will play two friendly matches against Cameroon and Congo next month in Belgium, the president of the country’s football association said on Monday.

    “I can confirm that we will play against Congo on October 8 in Antwerp and against Cameroon on October 11 in Brussels,” supersport.com quoted Amaju Pinnick as saying on Channels Television.

    Congo denied Nigeria a spot at the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year by finishing second in the qualifying group behind South Africa.

    Pinnick said the Nigeria Football Federation was also eyeing another friendly with a North African team before the Super Eagles’ 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt in March next year.

    Tunisia and Algeria are being considered as possibilities for the fixture in November, he added.

    Egypt currently leads Group G with six points from two matches. Nigeria lies second on four points.

    The two sides clash in a double-header in what is being seen as the decider for automatic qualification for the tournament in Gabon in two years’ time.

     

     

  • NFF hails U-23 over Ghana win

    NFF hails U-23 over Ghana win

    General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi has commended the output of the U-23 National Team in a 2-0 win over their Ghanaian counterparts at the All-Africa Games on Wednesday.

    In the team’s first match of the Men’s Football Tournament of the Games as a result of the withdrawal of Egypt, the Dream Team lashed 1992 Olympics bronze medallists Ghana 2-0 at the Stade l’unite 3 in Brazzaville.

    Ace forward Junior Ajayi, who hit two goals in the Olympics qualifying defeat of Congo-Brazzaville in Port Harcourt in July, scored Nigeria’s first goal in the 54th minute. Enyimba FC midfielder Kingsley Sokari, who played for the Flying Eagles at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand in the summer, made the game safe for the Samson Siasia –led squad with four minutes to the end.

    Sanusi, who is with the Dream Team and the Super Falcons in Brazzaville and watched the U-23 boys’ victory, said: “The U-23 boys played very well. They exhibited excellent cohesion and this is one National Team to be proud of.

    “My charge to the team is to learn to take their chances. The scoreline would have been higher if they had not been profligate in front of goal. I believe the coaches will work on that aspect as the competition progresses.”

    The Dream Team’s next match of the Games is against Senegal’s U-23, at the same Stade l’unite 3, on Saturday.

  • NFF plans three matches for Eagles in Europe

    NFF plans three matches for Eagles in Europe

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is working on an ambitious three-match friendly series in London and Belgium, which will involve Cameroon, Ghana and Congo, next month.

    The matches will be played between October 5 and 13, africanfootball.com reports.

    The website had earlier reported that discussions have reached an advanced stage for the Super Eagles to take on the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon during a FIFA-friendly window next month.

    And now the proposal has taken on two more countries, Ghana and Congo, with London and Belgium being proposed as match venues.

    There are two FIFA friendly windows left for this year – 5-13 October and 9-17 November.

    The NFF has swung into action to make the most of these openings in order to fast track the rebuilding of the Eagles under new coach Sunday Oliseh ahead of a 2017 African Nations Cup qualifying double header against Egypt in March next year.

    “We are still working on this plan, but we will give it our best shot because we need to get the new team ready for the decisive AFCON qualifiers against Egypt next year,” a top official told africanFootball.com

    The Super Eagles has four points from two matches, two points behind Egypt, in the race for an automatic place for Gabon 2017.

  • AFTERMATH OF TANZANIA DRAW: NFF, Oliseh, Siasia meet again

    •Glasshouse chiefs insist Nations Cup bigger than All African Games
    •Want five Dream Team VI boys back in Eagles
    •Cast doubts over Eagles’ midfielders
    •Board meeting holds today in Port Harcourt

    Sportinglife can reveal exclusively today that eggheads of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are unhappy with the quality of players in the Super Eagles and have directed that the coaches of the senior team Sunday Oliseh and Dream Team VI’s tactician Samson Siasia must sit in a heart-to-heart discussion, if the country must qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

    In Saturday’s post-match discussions outside the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Nigerians including NFF board members were miffed over the decision to deplete the Eagles to strenghten the country’s quest for a gold medal at the 2015 All African Games (AAG) holding in Congo.

    The arguement in most circles after the game hinged on the fact that the five players (Ogenekaro Etebor, Kingsley Sokari, Christian Pyagbara, Chima Akas et al) could have been allowed to participate in Saturday’s barren draw game against Tanzania and join Dream Team VI in Congo after the game.

    Those in this school of thought argued that Afcon is a bigger competition compared to the AAG stressing that even if Siasia needed the boys for his matches, he could have agreed for them to play the Tanzanian game before coming to Congo.

    This school of thought posited further that Siasia pressed the panic button to strenghten his team when he knew that the Dream Team VI’s game against Egypt wouldn’t hold.

    The other school of thought were livid with the way the midfielders played in the game. They challenged Oliseh not to invite all those who manned the midfield, describing them as being sluggish and unprepared to give their best in that game.

    “Siasia knew that the game against Egypt wouldn’t hold, he ought to have released the five boys to the Eagles when the full training began in Abuja with the arrival of the foreign-based stars instead of taking them to Congo. If there was synergy and cooperation between Siasia and Oliseh, the dream team coach would have released the boys to the Eagles.

    Sportinglife scooped that a line may have been drawn which favours the presence of our best players at all times in the Eagles, especially as the age grade teams are meant to discover new players.

    Consequently, a board meeting of the NFF would likely hold today in Port Harcourt where an overview of the Tanzanian game will be discussed just as the strategies for the Eagles’ remaining games would be studied.

  • Nigeria Ambassador showers praises on NFF

    Nigeria Ambassador showers praises on NFF

    Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to Tanzania, Salisu Umaru has praised the arrangements made by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of Saturday’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier away to Tanzania.

    Speaking when some NFF Management officials visited the High Commission of Nigeria in Dar es Salaam, Ambassador Umaru said the excellent arrangements for the players and officials to be comfortable for the game were worthy of praise.

    “I must say that the new NFF administration is focused, and looks determined to get it right. It is important to mention that the NFF sent some persons ahead to make adequate accommodation and transportation arrangements for the team, and also got in contact with the High Commission to help mobilise Nigerians in Tanzania to support the Super Eagles.

    “This is a good thing, and is worthy of emulation by other sports,” said Umaru.

    Ambassador Umaru and top officials of the Mission were also at the National Stadium, Dar es Salaam on Saturday to support the Super Eagles, alongside a large crowd of Nigerians based in the East African country.

    Shunning the hotel reserved for the players and officials by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), the NFF lodged the Super Eagles at the five-star Hyatt Regency Hotel, The Kilimanjaro.

    The NFF also flew the team in a chartered aircraft, which landed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday night and waited to fly the team direct to Port Harcourt, arriving 2am on Sunday.

    The NFF also made transportation arrangements different from what the TFF had on ground, ensuring the team’s comfort all the way.

    Ambassador Umaru added: “The NFF has done well. I believe the team will get better as they play more matches together.”

    He also called on players of the Senior National Team, Super Eagles to emulate the charitable works of other African superstars, including Didier Drogba of Cote d’Ivoire, back home in their country.

  • NFF REBRANDING: ‘Amaju Pinnick on right track’

    NFF REBRANDING: ‘Amaju Pinnick on right track’

    Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) under Amaju Pinnick has been commended for restructuring Nigerian Football.

    Kwara State born Sports philanthropist Babatunde Saliu Afase who gave the admonition while addressing journalists in Ilorin praised the present NFF administration for their outstanding restructuring of Nigerian Leagues.

    He urged them to bring more innovations for total transformation of the country’s football.

    “The positive change in our football is as a result of good leadership and hard work Amaju Pinnick and his members are putting into practice and I think they need to be commended and acknowledged for this,” said Afase.

    “The standard of our Leagues and football has changed tremendously and there are better opportunities when a country’s football is properly managed and structured. The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) has improved and we are all happy that we have a league that we can call our own, officiating of matches are now perfect and handlers of our various national teams are all competent and experienced, what we need to do now is to give them support and pray for them to succeed as it will be a collective praise,” the business man cum football enthusiast added.

    He, however, urged the present NFF to continue with their transformation and developmental agenda of improving football and creating standard football structures in the country.

  • Obienu backs NFF’s reforms

    A one –time Vice Chairman of then Nigeria Football Association (NFF), Richard Nwabufor Obienu has thrown his weight behind the plans and programmes of the present NFF administration, headed by Amaju Melvin Pinnick.

    The fiery administrator showered praises on the Amaju Pinnick –led NFF for the on-going reforms that have restored the credibility of the domestic League, improved Nigeria’s reckoning in the international football community and registered a rebirth in the various National Teams, among other groundbreaking feats.

    “I must say that I am truly impressed by the moves being made by the Amaju Pinnick –led NFF. I have been in the United States of America for some months but I have been following developments back home with keen interest.

    “I was here as vice chairman when the body was Nigeria Football Association (NFA), and I can tell you that it takes a courageous and focused team to initiate the reforms that we are witnessing.

    “Everyone knows Obienu says it as it is, without minding whose ox is gored. But when I see good moves, I recognise them,” Obienu said on a visit to the NFF Secretariat on Thursday, where he met with the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi and a number of members of Management.

    “I am delighted at the way things are going: the commitment to transparency, accountability, integrity. The reforms are excellent, and I believe the choice of Sunday Oliseh as Super Eagles’ Head Coach is genuinely inspired,” the former vice chairman noted, recalling the events of 2002 Africa Cup of Nations where he stood by Oliseh despite the team captain’s castigation by top officials.

    Obienu, who was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring Super Eagles’ qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and was successful, called on Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to support the efforts of the NFF Board and Management.

    “I appreciate that Nigerians are very passionate about sports, particularly football, and everyone has an opinion. But we must give a team that has shown focus and genuine intention the benefit of doubt. “They are not there yet, but with our support and prayers, they will take our football to a great level.”