Following Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has called on the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) leadership to resign.
The omission of Nigeria from the international competition, which will take place in the US, Canada, and Mexico next summer, has led to new criticism of the football administration in that nation. For a country with such a large football fan base, Mikel Obi characterized the defeat as a painful event.
The former Chelsea midfielder did not hold back while evaluating the circumstances in an interview with talkSPORT.
“It is a hammer blow and I have said it so many times that the FA, the people who run the FA, should all resign when you have a country as big as we do, over 300 million people, the biggest country in Africa, and we are not going to the World Cup (for) the second time in a row,” he said.
“We will not be attending the World Cup, despite having one of the best teams in Africa.” It’s disastrous. It’s disastrous.
Nigeria last competed in the World Cup in 2018, and the idea of missing consecutive competitions has angered many fans.
According to rumors, the Super Eagles’ chances of qualifying for the competition are still slim. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is accused by the NFF in a FIFA petition of fielding players who are not eligible for the 2025 African playoff final.
Before the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico later this month, a decision is anticipated to be made by the world governing body of football. Nigeria might yet be able to reenter the race if the petition is successful.
