By Daily Sports Nigeria on September 15, 2025

The Guild of Sports Editors of Nigeria has criticised the Nigeria Football Federation for its poor management of the Super Eagles’ 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, describing the federation’s approach as inept and lacking in strategic vision.

The umbrella body of sports desk managers across Nigerian media houses expressed frustration over the team’s precarious position in Group C, where Nigeria currently sits third with 11 points from seven matches.

With South Africa leading the group on 17 points and Benin Republic in second place with 14 points, the Super Eagles face an uphill battle to secure automatic qualification or even earn a playoff spot with just two games remaining.

The group winner will qualify directly for the tournament, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The runner-up could still make it through the playoffs if ranked among the four best second-placed teams across all African qualifying groups.

However, Nigeria’s current position means they may miss out entirely unless South Africa or Benin Republic suffer major setbacks while the Super Eagles win their remaining fixtures by substantial margins.

In a strongly-worded statement signed by President Tony Ubani and Secretary Dare Esan, the editors accused the NFF of poor planning and allowing indiscipline to derail what should have been a manageable qualifying campaign against Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Benin Republic.

“We watched in dismay as the NFF wasted precious time in employing a substantive manager after dispensing with Jose Peseiro, who managed just two points from two games,” the statement read.

The guild particularly criticised the federation’s handling of the Finidi George situation, arguing it exposed a leadership that lacked clear direction when decisive action was required.

“The manner the NFF handled the Finidi George debacle did not show a federation that knew what to do to arrest the country’s fading hope of making the 2026 World Cup,” they stated.

The editors also took aim at what they described as a lack of professionalism in the team’s preparation, citing the presence of content creators in the Super Eagles camp while other nations maintained strict discipline.

“It is unfortunate that the NFF allowed all manner of content creators to take over the Super Eagles’ camp when more serious countries barred such fellows and even restricted their players from bringing mobile phones and other distracting gadgets to camp,” the statement noted.

Another major criticism centred on the NFF’s failure to challenge the decision by Zimbabwe and Lesotho to designate South Africa as their home venue, effectively giving Bafana Bafana six home games out of nine in the qualifiers.

“With this arrangement, South Africa was given the opportunity to play six of its nine games at home, and the NFF did not see anything wrong with that,” the editors observed.

The guild highlighted chronic preparation issues, pointing out that before Nigeria’s recent home match against Lesotho, the team could only begin full training on Wednesday for a Saturday fixture because coach Eric Chelle’s complete squad was not assembled until then.

“For a country that did not qualify for the last World Cup in Qatar, this showed that the NFF learned nothing from the previous failure,” they stated.

The editors called on the Federal Government to rehabilitate key football venues including the national stadia in Abuja and Lagos, as well as facilities in Kaduna and Enugu, arguing that over-reliance on the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo had hampered the campaign.

“We lost the World Cup ticket as home draws with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho put the campaign in jeopardy,” they lamented.

Despite the criticism, the guild urged government intervention to help the Super Eagles win their remaining two matches, which could potentially secure a playoff berth as one of the four best runners-up.

“The Super Eagles cannot afford to miss another World Cup,” the statement concluded.

Source Punch Ng

Posted September 15, 2025

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