The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nff

  • NFF emphasises need for synergy among Leagues, departments

    The Nigeria Football Federation  (NFF) has begun concrete moves to ensure synergy between the NFF and the different leagues affiliated to the NFF, and also among departments within the Federation to guarantee global best practice in the organisation of matches and competitions in the country.

    Commending the organisation of the recently-concluded Super Six Tournament held in Abuja, NFF Acting President, Seyi Akinwunmi thanked the League Management Company(LMC), Globacom Communications who are the sponsors, the participating teams and of course the fans who came out in their thousands to watch the matches.

    He stated that the gains of the brilliant organisation, and the lessons learnt from whatever shortcomings there were, should be taken on board to guarantee much better organisation of matches and championships.

    On Monday, Akinwunmi as Chairman of the NFF Organising Committee, chaired a meeting where the Premier League, National League, Women League and Nationwide League were represented, and which also had in attendance NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu, as well as heads of the NFF Technical, Competitions, Marketing and Communications departments, Referees Unit, International, Inter-Clubs, Federation Cup Unit and Security Committee.

    “We must begin to insist on global best practice in everything we do, in organisation of matches and carrying out of other assignments. The NFF leadership will begin to frown seriously at the attitude of ‘business as usual’ and people in positions of responsibility must discharge those responsibilities with absolute professionalism.

    “Synergy between the NFF and all the leagues and also among the departments within the NFF that are represented here is key for the real growth of Nigeria football.”

  • NFF congratulates Udoh, Oshoala

    NFF congratulates Udoh, Oshoala

    The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) has congratulated the duo of FIFA-badged referee Ferdinand Udoh and African Woman Player of the Year Asisat Oshoala for the deserved strides they made in the past few days.

    Udoh, 28, and much respected for his athletism, firmness and strict application of the rules of the game, has been selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as one of the referees for the 11th African U-17 Championship taking place in Niger Republic between February 15  and March 1 .

    Oshoala, Most Valuable Player of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Canada, and also undisputable choice for same honour at the African Women Championship in Namibia last year, signed a professional contract with Liverpool Ladies Football Club of England.

    NFF Acting President, Seyi Akinwunmi, lauded the duo and charged them to see their strides as calls to put in even more effort and diligence into their different vocations.

    “The NFF is happy with the selection of Ferdinand Udoh for the African U-17 Championship in Niger. This underscores that the integrated efforts we are making for the general improvement of refereeing in Nigeria has not gone unnoticed by the organisations that matter.

    “For some years now, we have not had a Nigerian centre referee at major competitions. Now, Udoh is starting with the U-17, which we know is a stepping stone to further glory and much greater glory. Let me reiterate that our objective is to see a Nigerian referee, or referees, officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

    “We congratulate Oshoala who is definitely the new poster girl of Nigeria’s women football. Her contract with Liverpool Ladies will certainly encourage her mates in the National Team to also put in more efforts to attract the attention of the best clubs in the world.”

    Oshoala was duly crowned the African Woman Player of the Year and Youth Player of the Year at the Glo-CAF African Football Awards in Lagos earlier this month, with Nigeria also claiming the Women National Player of the Year diadem.

    Ferdinand Anietie Udoh, born in 1987, became a FIFA-badged referee in 2013.

    Nigeria’s leading assistant referee, Peter Edibi, is presently working at the 30th Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea.

  • NFF mourns Musa Abdullahi

    NFF mourns Musa Abdullahi

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has expressed deep sorrow at news of the death of one-time Head Coach of the U-17 National Team and a former Assistant Coach of the Super Eagles, Musa Abdullahi.

    Abdullahi, who suffered a stroke several years ago and had been confined to his home in Kogi State since then, died yesterday and was buried the same day.

    “This is terrible news,” began NFF President Amaju Pinnick, who spoke on telephone from Equatorial Guinea where he is on official duty for the Confederation of African Football at the 30th Africa Cup of Nations finals.

    “Coach Musa Abdullahi was known by all who came across him as a gentleman to the core, a very humble, highly dedicated and tireless professional who had real passion for the job. He was just a likeable person in every respect.

    “We feel very, very sad to lose him but God loves him more and he has gone to rest. Our prayer is for Almighty God to grant him peaceful rest and also grant the family he has left behind the fortitude to bear the huge loss,”Pinnick stated.

    The ever-smiling Musa Abdullahi assisted Coach Fanny Amun to lead the U-17 National Team to a second FIFA U-17 World Cup title in Japan in 1993.

  • NFF approves Feb. 19 for Plateau FA election

    NFF approves Feb. 19 for Plateau FA election

    The Plateau State football Association has received approval from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for its electoral committee to conduct elections on 19th January, 2015 at the Langtang South Local Government Council.

    The NFF had last year directed that all state associations must fill their elective positions.

    According to Sunday Longbap, chairman, Plateau State Football Association, collection and submission of nomination forms have commenced.

    Longbap said all the eligible candidates can obtain their forms at the State FA secretariat.

    The screening of candidates will hold while the names of those who are successful will be displayed before the election.

    The electoral committee, headed by Barrister Dan T. Gwaza, has the following members: Barrister Zulfa B. Rimven, Godiya Danbaba, Amos Damla, Hon. Umar Aboki, Dachung Yohanna and Hon. Nanbut Famann.

    The appeal committee comprises Barrister Awal Abdullahi, Sati Godike and Gambo S. S.

    “In line with the directives of the Nigeria Football Federation that all state associations must fill their elective positions, Plateau State FA is ready to conduct a free and fair election that will be appreciated by all.

    “All interested candidates should collect their forms. We also thank the NFF leadership for the approval of the election date and electoral committee members,” Longbap said.

    The forms are available at Dan T. Gwaza & Co at 24 Tafawa Balewa Street, Jos. Chairmanship position form costs N100,000. Deputy Chairman form goes for N80,000 while Vice Chairman is N60,000. Members form is N50,000.

     

  • NFF crisis: Giwa faction claims CAS victory

    NFF crisis: Giwa faction claims CAS victory

    The Chris Giwa-led faction of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has claimed a sort of victory from the ongoing hearings into the confusion that reigned before the last NFF elections.

    The claims were made in a release made available to Futaa.com early on Saturday morning, which reads in part: “The substantive matter we filed at the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) in Lausanne in Switzerland came up for hearing. Parties were present including FIFA, the Amaju Pinnick faction and we, the plaintiffs. It was billed for 14th and 15th January.

    “Nigerians will appreciate when the Amaju Pinnick faction misled the court to turn down the preliminary reliefs we requested and made Nigerians to think the matter is closed. When the substantive matter came up, we put up our case in the astute belief in the rule of law and the course of non-violence.

    “By the grace of God, the board shall meet during the week after which we shall avail the nation of the plans to move our football out of the deep woods of not getting new kids on the bloc.”

    The recognised leadership of the NFF led by Amaju Pinnick are quiet on the matter.

  • FIFA salute NFF on referees’ assessors

    A Senior Manager in FIFA’s Referees Development Division, Mr Fernando Tresaco Gracia, is excited by the development in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) following the decision of the Amaju Pinnick-led board of the federation to include the panel of referees assessors in the league management structure for the new football season.

    When told of the new development at the Nigerian federation by retired FIFA badged referee, Mr Linus Mba, Gracia could not hide his excitement.

    “This is excellent news, congratulations to the Nigerian federation for this lofty innovation to improve officiating of the game in your country,” observed the FIFA official.

    As a follow up, and in response to Mr Mba’s request, FIFA has decided to immediately institute a special course for the Assessors this May.

    According to Mr Mba who is a referees consultant to the NFF, “instead of the usual five-day FIFA Elite referees Course from May 23 to May 27, the world football ruling body has decided to increase it to seven days to accommodate the assessors.

    “This is a big plus for the NFF in the current drive to ameliorate the standard of football in the country,” observed Mba.

    The concept of Referees Assesor has long been adopted by FIFA and CAF and other countries as an effective way of rating referees leaving match commissioners with purely administrative tasks. Composed mainly of veteran referees, the Assessors are better placed to rate and assess the referees on the technical aspects of their work.

    According to NFF Board Member and Chairman of Referees Sub-committee, Mr Ahmed Fresh, every effort will be made to reap the gains of the current development by ensuring that not only credible members are selected into the panel, but efforts will be made to train and retrain them in tandem with current best practices.

  • Mba hails NFF’s endorsement of match assessors

    FIFA Referees Advisor and  Consultant to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on refereeing, Linus Mba has hailed the endorsement by the federation of a proposal by the referees committee to set up a panel of match assessors which shall be composed of referees only.

    Mba told footballlive.ng that the endorsement is in line with the new landmark that FIFA itself is promoting which is sure going to help the development of officiating in Nigeria.

    He said: “The panel of referees would be assessors. We need the development of refereeing in the country and this is an agenda that even FIFA is trying to push forward.

    “This will be a landmark if it thrives because what it means is that there will be growth of officiating in Nigeria. The advantages of this are innumerable; the referees will benefit from great technical input and the game will also benefit from the quality of input by the referees into the game.”

  • Anyansi: Home Eagles have a future

    Anyansi: Home Eagles have a future

    • NFF top shot praises Nigerians in Abu Dhabi for support

    • Team arrives Dubai for Sudan

    The Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF)’s  Technical and Development Committee, Felix Anyansi Agwu has heaped plaudits on the home-based Super Eagles who were only within few minutes of getting at least a draw against 2015 AFCON bound Cote d’Ivoire in a friendly match played in Abu Dhabi,UAE on Sunday.

    Nigeria’s senior national team is under rebuilding again after the country’s failure to qualify for the 2015 AFCON and the NFF organised two friendly games against Cote d’ Ivoire and Sudan to keep the Eagles busy and serves as consolation for the team’s 2015 AFCON no-show.

    Anyansi Agwu who was on the entourage to UAE told SportingLife from Dubai on telephone that the Eagles played very well and only lost to the Ivoriens owing to a careless back pass from a defender to his team-mate which the Ivory Coast striker, Salomon Kalou capitalised for the only goal of the game.

    He said besides the mistake that led to the only goal of the match during the dying minutes of the game both sides were equally matched with no much difference with Nigerians that paraded 99 percent home-based players with the exception of Steve Ukoh who plays in Europe and the Ivoriens who have most of their players scattered in top European countries.

    Anyansi Agwu who doubles as the Chairman of Enyimba FC of Aba also stated that the game against Ivory Coast has given the home-based players more exposure and experience adding that the team would do better against the Falcon of Jediane of Sudan later this week.

    “The team played fantastic game and were unlucky to have made such mistake at the crucial moments of the game. We are happy with their performance that players made up of mostly home-based players to play the Ivory Coast the way they did showed that our national team has a future.

    “The team, I believe will do better against Sudan because the players played with their whole hearts and ought to be rewarded with another brilliant outing and result against Sudan,” Anyansi Agwu told SportingLife.

    The Enyimba Boss also hailed Nigerians that are living in Abu Dhabi for the warm reception for the team and the support they have been showing since their arrival in the early hours of Friday last week.

    He affirmed that the Eagles would reward their steadfastness with an improved display against Sudan in Dubai on Saturday.

  • Only referees can be Match Assessors – NFF

    Only referees can be Match Assessors – NFF

    Nigeria  Football Federation (NFF) executive board has approved the proposal by the Nigeria Referees Committee(NRC) to set up a panel of Match Assessors which shall be made up of only referees.

    The NRC hinged their decision on the fact that 60 Nigerians had undergone training by the world football-governing body, FIFA since 2011.

    This decision formed the fulcrum of the major decisions taken by the NFF board in Lagos during their meeting.

    Some of the key decisions taken were:  “Committee approved far –reaching recommendations by the Marketing, Sponsorship and Television Advisory Committee, including registration of all NFF property including marks, logos and signs; involvement of the Marketing Department and Legal Unit in negotiations on international friendly and hosting rights of other matches; commercialisation of kits sponsorships in the interim following the expiration of the contract with Adidas; establishment of a compliance unit in the Marketing Department to protect all rights from ambush and non –compliance from within the NFF; appointment of more marketing consultants/agents in a new strategy to expand revenue base; and the establishment of an integrated Super Eagles’ fan base for capacity building using the website as a revenue stream.

    “The Executive Committee adopted the majority report of the members of the NFF 2014 Electoral Appeals Committee, which upheld in its entirety the NFF 2014 Elective Congress of September 30, 2014. In line with the provisions of the NFF Electoral Code, which states without ambiguity that the decision of the Electoral Appeals Committee on election matters is final, the Executive Committee declared that all issues arising from the NFF 2014 Elective Congress are now fully rested.

  • NFF approves time table for Niger FA election

    NFF approves time table for Niger FA election

    TheNigeria Football Federation (NFF) has approved the time table for Niger state football election congress scheduled for 16 February 2015.

    Secretary of the electoral committee Mallam Saidu Jagaba who confirmed this on Thursday in a chat with SportingLife  said with the approval from the national governing body the state is set to ensure a hitch-free election aimed at bringing in a formidable team that will further move the round leather game forward in the Power State.

    Guideline for the election, according to him, has already been forwarded to all the 25 football councils in the state as well as their affiliates.

    Submission and collation of forms for aspiring candidates, SportingLife gathered, has been slated for 15th to 22nd of January.

    Jugaba  further explained that Kontagora the headquarter of zone C in Niger  state has been  carefully chosen as the venue of the election after an exhaustive deliberation promising that this year congress will be an improvement upon the past FA congresses in the state.

    He appealed to all stakeholders to play by the rules and feel free to offer useful advice to the electoral committee so as to ensure that the peace in the state FA is sustained.