Nigeria’s football decline is no longer limited to poor results at the senior level, with inadequate talent discovery, weak player management and structural deficiencies increasingly undermining the country’s teams across age groups.
The Super Eagles have missed two consecutive FIFA World Cups, while the Super Falcons will not feature at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Nigeria’s U17 and U20 teams have also suffered setbacks in their respective World Cup qualification campaigns.
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Felix Awogu, General Manager, SuperSport West Africa and a seasoned football analyst, said the crisis reflects a deeper failure to identify, develop and properly utilise the country’s football talent.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Awogu argued that Nigeria continues to produce talented players but lacks an effective system for discovering and managing them from the grassroots to the senior national teams.
