Nigerian football stakeholders remain divided over calls for the suspension of the Nigeria Football Federation elections, even as former internationals point to the country’s recent setbacks in continental football as evidence of a system in need of urgent reform, The PUNCH reports.
Former Dream Team star Abiodun Obafemi, a member of Nigeria’s gold medal-winning squad at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, lamented the contrast between the spirit that drove that triumph and the current state of the game following the exit of both the Super Falcons and the Flying Eagles from their respective World Cup pathways.
“We were celebrating the anniversary of our Olympic triumph just a few days ago, and now we find ourselves facing a World Cup miss for the first time, with the Falcons and the young Flying Eagles both missing out,” Obafemi said.
“In our days, we came into camp with hunger, and our relationship with the administration and our coaches was open and sincere. Today, it appears to be a different story entirely.”
His comments come after the Super Falcons were eliminated from the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations by Cameroon in the quarter-finals on Sunday, a defeat that cost Nigeria automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, while the Flying Eagles suffered a 4-1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the final of the WAFU Zone B Under-20 Championship, a result that eliminated Nigeria from contention for next year’s Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations and, by extension, the 2027 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Azerbaijan.
