THIS is the world of sports. Nigeria was once described as the ‘Giant of Africa.’ The country was ranked fifth on the FIFA table, and the Super Eagles were hailed as the most entertaining national team during the 1994 World Cup.
European and South American countries that previously insisted African football was of a low standard, and would not agree to play friendly matches with national teams from Africa, started to accept matches with Nigeria and a few other African countries.
Even ‘colonial master,’ England, came down from their high horse and eagerly hosted the Super Eagles on the hallowed ground of Wembley Stadium in 1995. For the records, I negotiated with England and made that match possible from my position on the board of the NFA under late Air Commodore Emeka Omeruah.
In those years, African football gained respect and recognition, and Nigeria was a major catalyst and contributor to that development with the junior national teams at Under-16/17 and Under-20 levels taking the world of football by storm.
The Nigerian style of football was different. It was a combination of its British roots, the Brazilian influence in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the impact of exposure of some key players from Nigeria to wider European football of the early 1990s, and the infusion of a home-grown culture of exuberant showmanship, individual free expressiveness, uni-directional, all-out attacking style of football characterised by racing down the flanks with speed and power and sending telescopic crosses to waiting strikers. Added to these, was an uncommon fighting spirit driven by the lure of new opportunities, of dollars, of patriotism, and other economic ‘carrots’ in football.
Nigerian football was very different, very colourful, very attractive, and very beautiful to watch. Even the great Brazilian legend, Pele, as well as England’s first manager, Walter Winterbottom, were caught in the web of great expectations. They predicted that an African country (particularly Nigeria) would win the World Cup before the turn of the last Century.
Although, it never happened quite like that, it was not an exaggeration that Nigerian football was held in such very high esteem. The respect was earned on the field of play by gifted Nigerian players, many of who are still alive but outside the corridors of power, their experiences untapped and wasting.
Such has been Nigeria’s contribution to the football game in the world in the past 40 years.
Here we are now, in 2025. The setting is different. With the World Cup as ultimate target, the process is easier and the rewards more bountiful.
In the space of 40 years, the number of teams that can qualify out of Africa has increased from one to nine countries, with the number of participating teams climbing from 24 to 48.
The available prize money for the 48 participating countries attending the 2026 ‘World War of football’ is inching closer to the billion-dollar mark. Meanwhile, all cost of preparation and arriving at the host countries are adequately taken care of by FIFA.
For a Nigerian footballer, there could not be a better setting to make a mark, or a bigger motivation to make their country to qualify.
Then came last week. Two matches were to decide Nigeria’s fate. The Nigerian team trained only once before the first match. They played the match for almost two and a half hours – 90 minutes of the match, plus 30 minutes of extra time, plus an another 30 minutes of total additional time for stoppages. It was a grueling match that obviously took a heavy physical toll on the players.
A few days later, the team played a second match that Nigerians would want to forget in a hurry, but must not to find a path to a different future.
It was a catastrophe. The players were all fatigued from the first grueling match. And for that reason, Nigeria would not be attending the 2026 World Cup for the second time in a row. That reality is hard to swallow because it is a bitter pill.
Nigeria has the highest number of football players of African-descent playing in the biggest leagues in the world. The country has in its squad the two best players in Africa in the past two years.
On paper, Nigeria should have strolled past DRC Congo. Instead, on the night, the Congolese players ran rings around the Nigerian team. The Congolese were faster to every ball, held the ball better and longer, passed the ball among themselves better, created a few more goal scoring chances, and made the Super Eagles look like bungling school boys.
The scoreline flattered the Eagles. They deserved no accolades for the match ending in a draw after extra time.
The Eagles, after a very early first goal, settled down to the poorest display of football I have seen the national team of Nigeria put up. It had nothing of the colour, creativity, energy, flamboyance, and pattern of the past. The team spent all the time with the defenders under constant pressure, struggling to stop the endless forays of the Congolese, passing the ball between themselves, sideways and backwards, sideways and backwards, like a yo-yo, and finally neglecting the weak midfielders by launching long and high ball to attackers that could not do anything with the balls. They could not even head the ball decently. They were running around with tired legs and not wanting to even receive passes. They could not control and keep the balls, could not dribble past defenders, or go down the flanks to make crosses. It was a very shambolic performance capturing the spirit of the true state of Nigerian football. It is not healthy at all.
The result of the penalty-kicks shoot-out was justified – the better side on the night won the match. It is as simple as that.
It was ugly and humiliating for Nigerians to be put through the agony of watching helplessly how 40 years of their football development dissipate in a plume of one very poor performance in Morocco a week ago that ended their dreams and brings ‘poverty’ to everyone in the football business in Nigeria.
It was Nigeria’s worst advertisement since 1994, and a nightmare from which the country must wake up quickly by doing the right things and taking the right steps going forward. For me, the answer is simple. Nigeria must wake up and confront the present reality. The country must get rid of the system that has failed and sustains a cabal that has held on (directly and through proxies) to the reins of power through the illegal imposition of a faulty constitution that has governed Nigerian football in the past 30 years.
The country must break the stranglehold of a particular constituency within the football structure and free the game from mediocrity and politics. Nigerian football must get back on to the track of proper governance and organisation.
It is only then that Nigerians can sit back to watch and enjoy good football and well-earned victories without reckoning with ‘voodoo,’ a new word in the lexicon of Nigerian football. It is time to let the prophecy of Pele find fulfillment within a very few years.
