President of the Nigeria Football Federation,
Amaju Pinnick has expressed the satisfaction of
the Federation with on-field and off-field
results for Nigerian Football in the outgoing
year, while expressing conviction that the year
2018 will bring forth more honours and even
greater global recognition for the Nigerian
game.
Pinnick
In the year 2017, the Super Eagles qualified for
the FIFA World Cup finals with a match to
spare from a so –called ‘Group of Death’; the
Eagles B qualified for the African Nations
Championship starting in Morocco in a
fortnight and the U20 and U17 girls swept
aside opposition to reach the final round of
qualification for their respective FIFA Women’s
World Cup finals taking place in 2018.
Off the field, a string of victories in the
boardroom has given Nigerian Football a louder
voice in international football politics and a
number of worthwhile sponsorship deals with
corporate organizations has greatly reduced the
financial burden on the nation’s supreme
football–ruling body.
“Largely, it has been an excellent year, on and
off the field. The bookmakers, analysts and
football fans all over the world thought we
were going to find it difficult in our World Cup
qualifying group, but we made it to Russia with
a match to spare. Now, we have already kick –
started the preparations to the finals with a
landmark agreement with the team on funds
and renewal of the Technical Adviser’s contract
to keep him fully focused on the job.
“Like the World Cup, qualification for the CHAN
was also down to hard work and focus.
We are ready to work even harder and focus
much more ardently on our objectives in the
year 2018, because we want to win the CHAN
and achieve our best –ever outing at the FIFA
World Cup,” Pinnick said.
The CAF Executive Committee Member and
Member of the Organizing Committee for FIFA
Competitions also revealed that big plans are
afoot for the women’s game.
“It is unfortunate that the Coach we had
contacted and approved for the Super Falcons’
job opted for something else before the
contract was signed, but that is water under
the bridge and we have moved on. In a few
weeks, we will unveil a highly qualified Coach
for the team and we will then take it from
there. Already, we have signed a contract for a
friendly match with the women’s national team
of France for 4th April 2018 in Paris. We are
also mindful of the on –going campaigns of the
Falconets and Flamingoes for World Cup tickets
and we will continue to give them maximum
support.
“We were absent from the youth tournaments
in 2017 because we lost out of the qualifiers
wanting to do things right. We have no regrets
for insisting on doing what is right. We have
already set the machinery in motion for a
credible and enduring system that Nigerians
will be proud of in a short while.
“I admit there were a couple of glitches in
administration but that only showed we are
human, but we have put measures in place to
forestall unwholesome experience in the future.
It is going to be a very busy first half of 2018
and I have told the secretariat to wake up and
move at the same pace as the Executive.
In 2018, we will be thorough, we will be
diligent, we will be professional and there will
be zero tolerance for negligence and laxity. We
are taking a winning mentality into 2018 and
anyone not cut out for that will have to excuse
us.
“The World Cup is the big one next year (2018)
and I believe we are going to be very ready
when the tournament kicks off. We have lined
up four friendly matches starting with the game
against Poland in Warsaw on March 23. There
will be other matches on March 27,May 28 (in
Nigeria) and June 2”
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