Former Nigerian captain John Obi Mikel is unhappy with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), following Super Eagles’ disastrous 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Nigeria missed out of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and are on the verge of sitting at home to watch another finals.
The three-time African champions are third in Group C with six points behind leaders South Africa whose destiny is now in their hands with two matches left to play, following their 1-1 draw with the Eagles on Tuesday. Mathematically, Nigeria are also out of the race to be among the four best-placed teams in Africa, as most of the teams aiming for the slots have more points than the Eagles.
Obi, who did not hide his frustration on his Obi One Podcast, maintained that there is nothing left for the Ibrahim Gusau-led board to do in office, having failed to deliver a ticket to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Chelsea legend went as far as asking the Federal Government to make inquiry into why Nigeria would be absent from another World Cup.
The 38-year-old said though Super Eagles players share in the blame, the NFF simply failed to mobilize resources to ensure Nigeria did not repeat the failure of 2022.
“Now I feel for the people of my country; I feel for the people in Nigeria because they are going to be devastated right now again. For the second time running, we are not going to qualify for the World Cup,” he said.
“If we don’t make it to the World Cup, if we don’t qualify, I just think the whole board of the NFF they need to go. They need to go, sorry, they have to go. If we don’t qualify for the World Cup, the whole board of the NFF, I’m saying it right now because it is not acceptable.
“Twice in a row, we are not going to qualify for the World Cup. We are the biggest footballing country in Africa, I don’t care what anybody says. Mo Salah, Egypt, whatever, I don’t care. Nigeria is the biggest when it comes to African football. Twice in a row, something is wrong. A drastic change has to be done. If the government wants to get involved, they have to get involved. They have to get involved because it is not acceptable.
“Yes the players have to take responsibility but the biggest problem is from the top, from the top. Why I’m emotional about the stuff is because I love Nigeria. When you talk about Chelsea, it is the same way. The problem is 100% from the top. You have to get those guys motivated, find a conducive way for those guys when they come back home to play for Nigeria and right now, nobody is making that comfortable for them and that is why second time in a row, Nigeria unbelievable.”
