Super Eagles’ former left full-back, Ifeanyi Udeze has described the problems affecting Nigerian football as ‘unknown,’ but tasked the country’s administrators to quickly find solutions.
He cited the under-23 national team’s inability to qualify for the Olympic Games since winning bronze at Rio 2016 and the Super Eagles’ struggles in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers as confirmation of issues affecting Nigerian football.
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Although he stated at length that he cannot specifically say what exactly the problem is with Nigerian football, the Eagles’ World Cup 2002 team member pinpointed favouritism as a malady that must be nipped in the bud.
Udeze, who grew up in the Ajegunle area of Lagos, acknowledged the Super Falcons’ return to the Olympic Games football event but stressed that the problems affecting Nigeria’s football are not restricted to only one aspect of the game.
He added: “I feel bad about the state of the men’s team missing the Olympics, but we need to talk about our football in general.
“I don’t know what is happening to our football generally, but I think there is a problem somewhere. We have to look, know where the problem is, and fix it. Whatever it is!”
The former PAOK Saloniki of Greece and West Bromwich Albion of England defender then used the Olympics as a reference point to buttress his permutations about the current debilitating fortunes affecting Nigerian football.
“We’ve not been to the Olympics again since 2016. That shows something is wrong somewhere. There’s a problem, and we are struggling.
“The same thing happened to our female team. They also last went to the Olympics for a long time before they eventually qualified for this year’s edition. It’s been a long time.
“That tells us that something is wrong. Even qualifying for the World Cup is now a problem. We are in the same group with Benin Republic, Rwanda, and Libya for the AFCON qualifiers, yet we are afraid,” Udeze said with sarcasm.
The outspoken ex-international went further by hazarding a guess over the source of the woes affecting the round leather game and called officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to task on the matter.
“Something is wrong somewhere, but I can’t place what the problem is. The truth, though, is that those who are in charge of football in Nigeria, talking about the NFF, need to find out what the problem is, and they need to fix it.
“I am not happy about it, and nobody is happy, but we can’t kill ourselves.
“Everybody knows there is a problem somewhere, but we need to know what the problem is and try to fix it. For me, the problem starts from the NFF.”
Udeze concluded with some suggestions on the way forward, adding: “What they need to do, first of all, is to make sure that we do not hear anything that has to do with godfather-ism again in our football.
“Let’s take that away and throw it in the trash. What we need to do now are things that show us how to improve our football,” Udeze submitted.
