Just before the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Nigerian ladies threatened to boycott their opening game.

They eventually sealed an agreement with the NFF that they would receive a $100 daily camp allowance, a $3,000 win bonus and $1,500 bonus for a draw.

FIFA later announced that each player at the tournament would receive a minimum of $30,000.

According to The Athletic, the players claimed they had received less than half of their daily camp wages and no match bonuses from the NFF.

“They don’t treat us as if we are here to play for our country — they treat us as if we are slaves,” one of the players said.

“We disagreed, we told them ‘no.’ You can’t come and tell us you’re not paying us our match bonuses… How can you tell me FIFA included your match bonus (in its money)? They take us as if we are fools, as if we don’t know anything, as if we don’t know our rights,” another player stated.

One player, according to the UK tabloid, stated that their commitment was to the country and not to the federation.

We’re not playing for the federation; we’re playing for ourselves, playing for our country, playing for our families.

“We love football, we have a passion for it… and that passion is what gives us that drive.”

Reacting, NFF Head of Communications, Ademola Olajire, said FIFA was yet to pay the promised World Cup money to the federation but insisted that all daily allowances for the World Cup had been paid.

He added that bonuses owed the players before the World Cup had been paid.

“Their daily allowances for the World Cup have been paid. All they’ve been owed previously have been paid, bar one qualifying match. They will get their World Cup player allocation money when FIFA sends the monies,”

However, a member of the squad, who missed the World Cup but was part of the Falcons side at last year’s friendly tournament in the US, said that she was yet to receive the $1,000 due her.

“NFF has not paid me my money. How can they say they’ve paid us all the monies we are owed when I haven’t gotten mine? If they’ve paid others, then they should pay my $1,000 too,” the Europe-based player  said.

Guinea has been awarded the hosting rights for 2025 but Africa’s football ruling body, CAF may likely strip Guinea of the hosting right of the biennial African football showpiece.

According to Pinnick, CAF is on course to withdraw the hosting right from the West African country and Nigeria is working on a bid with Benin Republic.

We are putting a bid together for a co-hosting of the tournament with the Benin Republic,” Pinnick told Completesports.

“The Minister of Sports has given his endorsement on the bidding.It is high time Nigeria hosted an international tournament because there are many advantages attached to hosting of such competitions.There are many countries bidding for the competition; we are confident of getting the nod from Caf. We are working with the ministry of sports to ensure that Nigeria gets the hosting right.”

Since the inception of AFCON, Nigeria have hosted the rest of the continent on two occasions.

The first time was in 1980 while the second time was in 2000 when the country co-hosted with Ghana .

The NFF’s General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, made this disclosure in a statement by the federation’s department of communications on Wednesday.

Based on a preliminary assessment, that Kabungo had died following a stampede on his way to the hospital from the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Tuesday.

Expressing shock over the sad incident, “The NFF commiserates with the world football governing body – FIFA; the Confederation of African Football; the Football Association of Zambia, and the family of Dr Kabungo on his sudden passing”.

His death pains us very much and we are in a state of deep shock,” Sanusi said while giving an account of what happened to Kabungo who was the match’s Doping Control Officer.

”According to the information from our own Medical Officer, Onimisi Salami, who was appointed by FIFA as the game’s medical officer, Kabungo was found gasping for breath near the dressing room of the Ghanaian team,” he added but said as he (Sanusi) was heading to the dressing room of the Nigerian team, the General Coordinator, Kabore Bosilong from South Africa had called his attention to the scene.

“Kabungo suddenly started gasping for breath. The match’s FIFA Security Officer, Dixon Okello from Uganda, also witnessed the incident.We tried to resuscitate him there and then, but when this did not appear to be working, we put him in an ambulance and rushed him to Cedar Crest Hospital in Apo, where he gave up the ghost.It is a very sad incident and one is shocked that some persons have been putting a terrible slant to the whole thing by saying he was beaten up by fans. That is a lie.

Musa who spoke at a press conference on Tuesday January 4, noted that they are being owed bonuses from two matches.

Musa assured Nigerians that the bonuses and allowances would not be a big issue ahead of the AFCON tournament.

He said“There is no other outstanding outside these two games. We are going to be having a meeting with the coach and maybe the NFF officials so we can take the next step forward.”

Pinnick, who stated this during a media parley with sports journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, said the Eagles would get a new coach “within the next week or so”.

Eguavoen took charge of the side on a temporary basis following the sacking of Franco-German Gernot Rohr December 12, but Pinnick stated that the federation was in advanced stage in its search for a permanent replacement for Rohr.

The NFF boss confirmed that they had held talks with Serbian Mladen Krstajic and Jose Mourinho in their bid to get a top-class coach for the national team, adding that Portuguese Jose Peseiro, a former Real Madrid assistant coach and FC Porto head coach, was on the three-man shortlist for the Eagles coaching job.

Pinnick stated “The emphasis on the new coach is discipline. We will look at his antecedents on discipline. Secondly we will also look at how hungry he is to win trophies because if they are hungry it supersedes so many things and if he wants to win he will instil discipline. We will look at all these things but I cannot make a pronouncement emphatically because I will be undermining my executive committee. So until my executive committee comes out within the next week or so to say this is the name because the technical committee has to bring their presentation to the executive committee. It is going to be a seamless movement to the current team headed by Eguavoen. But we have spoken to three top coaches and Peseiro, whose name has been going around, is one of the coaches and I can tell you he is a top coach. We also talked to Mladen (Krstajic) but after talking to him he got a job with a top club in Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv. You can see these are coaches that are hungry and ready to take Nigeria as a home; they are people that we know are ready to face the challenge from the 200 million Nigerians. They are coaches who the players cannot be bigger than and I believe we are doing everything we can and that’s why we interface with the ministry on every level.Of course Mourinho, I am not going to tell you we didn’t talk to Mourinho because we did and the (sports) minister also talked to Mourinho and there is nothing wrong with it.”

Pinnick refused to mention the coach who will manage the Eagles at the AFCON, but hinted that the new coach would hit the ground running immediately he’s appointed.

The clash is to take place on June 4 in Wiener Neustadt, south of the Austrian capital.

SEE FULL LIST

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (APOEL Nicosia, Cyprus); John Noble (Enyimba FC); Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam, The Netherlands).

Defenders: Chidozie Awaziem (FC Boavista, Portugal); William Ekong (Watford FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Fulham FC, England); Jamilu Collins (SC Paderborn 07, Germany); Tyronne Ebuehi (FC Twente, The Netherlands); Valentine Ozornwafor (Galatasaray FC, Turkey)

Midfielders: Oghenekaro Etebo (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Abdullahi Shehu (Omonia Nicosia, Cyprus); Frank Onyeka (FC Midtjylland, Denmark); Abraham Marcus (CD Feirense, Portugal).

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Kano Pillars FC); Alex Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Peter Olayinka (Slavia Praha, Czech Republic); Victor Osimhen (Napoli FC, Italy); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France); Anayo Iwuala (Enyimba FC); Terem Moffi (FC Lorient, France); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); Simy Nwankwo (Crotone FC, Italy)

The fixture is to help the squad get prepared for their 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign which will begin in September.

The committee’s chairman is Ahmed Fresh, while Enyimba boss Felix Anyansi-Agwu is the vice-chairman. Members are Paul Bassey, Aminu Kurfi, Isaac Danladi, Dahiru Sadi, Victor Ikpeba and Mutiu Adepoju. NFF Technical Director, Austin Eguavoen, is the secretary.

He said “Each and every member of this special committee was appointed based on track record and wealth of experience. The NFF has high confidence in you and your ability to enhance the technical prowess of our National Teams by fashioning brilliant and workable policies. Without any gainsaying, the Technical and Development Committee is the engine room of the NFF. We know what you can contribute individually and collectively to uplift the standard of the Nigerian game. On our part, we will give all the support you need to succeed in this mission,” Ibrahim Gusau, Chairman of Chairmen, who represented Pinnick, said at the inauguration in Abuja.

This was contained in a press statement by the spokesperson of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ademola Olajire, titled, ‘Rohr lists Musa, Ekong, 22 others for Squirrels, Crocodiles’, on Tuesday.

Also included are defenders Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo and Olaoluwa Aina, midfielders Oghenekaro Etebo and Joseph Ayodele-Aribo, and forwards Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze.

Seven players, including long–time goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, are on standby.

THE FULL LIST

Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (APOEL Nicosia, Cyprus); John Noble (Enyimba FC); Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Defenders: Kenneth Omeruo (CD Leganes, Spain); Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Boavista, Portugal); William Ekong (Watford FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Fulham FC, England); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal); Tyronne Ebuehi (FC Twente, The Netherlands)

Midfielders: Oghenekaro Etebo (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Abdullahi Shehu (Omonia Nicosa, Cyprus); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England)

Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Unattached); Alex Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Sadiq Umar (Almeria FC, Spain); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Victor Osimhen (Napoli FC, Italy); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Samuel Kalu (FC Girondins Bordeaux, France); Moses Simon (FC Nantes, France)

Standby: Daniel Akpeyi (Kaizer Chiefs, South Africa); Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Peter Olayinka (Slavia Praha, Czech Republic); Terem Moffi (FC Lorient, France); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium); Michael Olise (Reading FC, England); Adekunle Adeleke (Abia Warriors)

Rohr was appointed as coach of the Super Eagles in 2016 following Sunday Oliseh’s resignation as manager of the national team. According to Oliseh he left the post due to the failure of the federation to support him and also over his unpaid wages and contract violation.

Special assistant on sports to Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari, Daniel Amokachi, has now come out to reveal Rohr’s contract contains a huge $2 million compensation clause, which in his view is a terrible choice considering how the football body treated indigenous coaches like Sunday Oliseh and Emmanuel Amuneke.

He said “For the administration to bring somebody like Oliseh and not giving him time because he’s Nigerian and they let go. To bring in somebody like Amuneke and not giving him time then they let him go. Then you bring a new coach where those two coaches are far better than him; pedigree-wise and portfolio-wise. But still, they gave the machinery a lot of money, $60 plus with all the bonuses, if they play two matches in a month, then you’re talking over $100,000. And then at the end of the day, you put a $2m clause on a coach that has never won anything. A coach that came from Burkina Faso to Tunisia than to Nigeria and you put a $2m clause, that’s the first I’m hearing such. If you were bringing Guardiola you can put $10m if he says he wants it because you know who he is; he has won laurels. But for a coach that has not done anything, not achieved anything and you put a $2m clause? There’s a lot of failure in that. I’ll not rate them (NFF) out of 10, but all these things I’ve broken down will tell anybody with a common sense where I’m coming from.”

Making clarification on the report, the NFF said the writer misinterpreted what Coach Gernot Rohr said. It was gathered that Rohr said that four Super Eagles players had tested positive for the virus since the pandemic, but have since recovered.

The statement read “News Alert. Please discountenance any reports that some of our players tested positive to COVID 19 ahead of tomorrow’s friendly game against Algeria. It is a blatant falsehood. The writer of the story, who was not part of the press conference earlier today, totally misrepresented what Coach Rohr said that since the outbreak of the pandemic, four of our players had tested positive but were all now fully recovered from the virus and back in action. The results of the COVID 19 tests carried out on the Super Eagles ahead of tomorrow’s game are still being awaited”