Former NFF president Amaju Pinnick has claimed that the Super Eagles would have secured qualification for the FIFA World Cup if he were still in charge, SportPremi reports.
The former vice-president of the Confederation of African football (CAF) served as president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) between 2014 and 2022, before he was succeeded by Ibrahim Gusau.
Nigeria qualified for two editions of the World Cup during his tenure, only missing out on a spot in the 2022 edition in Qatar after they lost on away goals to neighbors Ghana.
However, the Super Eagles failed to reach the FIFA World Cup tournament which will hold later this year, marking their second consecutive absence from football’s biggest event.
The three-time African champions endured a dismal campaign at first, before the arrival of Eric Chelle turned things around and they qualified for the CAF playoffs round as one of the best-ranked runners-up.
The Super Eagles defeated Gabon 4-1 in their semifinal clash, setting up a final match against the Democratic Republic of Congo to determine who picks up the ticket to represent Africa at the intercontinental playoffs.
Nigeria were defeated on penalties after a 1-1 draw in that encounter, ending their hopes of reaching this year’s World Cup tournament.
Everything Pinnick said about Nigeria’s World Cup failures
Speaking during a podcast session with former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh, Pinnick disclosed that the country would have qualified for the World Cup if he had remained as the president of the NFF.
“I didn’t see it coming because ten teams from Africa will qualify. In 2018, we had the toughest group ever; we had all the AFCON winners”, the 56-year-old revealed.
“Algeria hadn’t lost in over 20 games, Cameroon came in as defending champions, Zambia were Champions, and Nigeria was the least considered. But guess what? We qualified with two games to spare, and we didn’t sleep.
“We did that in 2022, but because the format was changed to head-to-head, nobody gave Ghana a chance, but lo and behold, they came. We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose; we were knocked out by the away goal rules”, he added.
“I took responsibility then, and I take responsibility now. Till today, it still haunts me that Nigeria didn’t qualify for the 2022 World Cup. I felt really bad. Nigeria should forgive us.
“For the 2026 World Cup, if I were there, definitely, Nigeria would have qualified. There’s no basis for Nigeria not to have qualified”, Pinnick concluded.
