Amaju Pinnick, the powerful President of the Nigeria Football Federation, has said teams representing Nigeria in future international tournaments must go into such tournaments with the expectation to win.
In a statement released by the communications department on Tuesday, Pinnick said the era of Nigeria teams going into competitions just to participate was over.
He also said the federation would in 2020, place more emphasis on qualification matches of the various national teams and the development of youth and grassroot football.
“We are also determined to concentrate much effort and resources on youth development programmes, including but not limited to the NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Programme,” Pinnick was quoted as saying.
“It is important that we continue to churn out quality talents and work hard to nurture them to excellent products who will then fit into the age-grade national teams and bring honour to the nation at various championships.
“As we have made known, teams representing Nigeria in international matches and competitions will be told in no uncertain terms that they are expected to win, not just participate. The era of simply being there to participate is long gone.”
Asides the Super Eagles, who won bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in July and the Super Falcons, who qualified for the Round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup in France in June, Nigeria had a dismal performance across her various national teams set-up in 2019.
The U-23 men team and the Falcons failed to qualify for the football event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, while the Flying Eagles and the Golden Eaglets underperformed at the U-17 and U-20 World Cups in Brazil and Poland respectively.
In 2020, the Eagles will continue their quest to qualify for the 2021 AFCON, after winning their first two games against Benin Republic and Lesotho. They will also start their qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Falcons, Falconets and Flamingos will also be involved in qualifying matches for various tournaments.
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
