Former Nigerian international Mikel Obi has called for the resignation of the entire board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) led by Ibrahim Gusau for failing to qualify the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2026 World Cup.
Recall that the Super Eagles were eliminated from the World Cup qualification race after a tense penalty shootout defeat to the DR Congo in November 2025.
Since their debut in 1994, they have missed the tournament only three times (2006, 2022, and 2026), with the 2026 miss marking their first consecutive absence in that era.
Speaking with talkSPORT, Mikel, who earned 89 caps for Nigeria and represented the country at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, stated that those in charge of Nigerian football must accept responsibility for what he described as a disastrous campaign.
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“It’s a hammer blow and I’ve said it so many times that when you have a country as big as we do, over 300 million people, the biggest country in Africa and we’re not going to the World Cup (for a) second time in a row, the FA, the people that are running the FA should all resign. They have to resign because it’s the second time that it’s happened.
“We have one of the best teams in Africa and we’re not going to be at the World Cup. It’s a disaster. It’s a disaster.
“So the people running the FA, the president (Ibrahim Musa Gusau) of the FA, the organisation people, they have to resign because African football is growing so much and we are being left behind. Nigeria’s been left behind.
“We should be leading the way. Look at what Morocco is doing with their team, with their country. They’re growing; they’re developing and we keep going backwards time after time.”
4 Comments
The fat cats should all have resigned a long time ago if they had any modicum of integrity.
The sad truth is that they have none.
The sadder truth is that they are not alone in that regard.
Nigerian government in particular and the country at-large are unfortunately teeming with such people.
A fairly failed country!.
You told the truth @Tony. NFF are terrible.
Other countries are growing yes!Instead we’re busy with bigotry,election rigging and state capture!We’ll continue to stumble as long as we sleep and allow evil corrupt people to snatch election victory and run away with it with their agbada.Our country shall continue to fall behind in virtually everything!
They should have resigned after the first calamitous failure in 2022. That they are still in the Glass House after a back to back failure to qualify for the mundial makes no sense.
Especially as their ineptitude and corruption are the direct causes of the failure.
The sitting NFF is a totally useless federation. An assemblage of incompetent thieving mediocres.
They are completely useless. Out the door they must go!