Eagles to tackle Ukraine in Kiev

EFCC, ICPC In NFF’s Committee For 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup By Gowon Akpodonor
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has secured a Grade A international friendly match for the Super Eagles against Ukraine as part of its on-going drive to expose as many players as possible to global football. The match will hold in Kiev on September 10.

President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, who made the disclosure on his twitter handle yesterday, stated that the match would be another springboard for players of the Super Eagles.

Pinnick also revealed that anti-corruption agencies, the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) or the Nigeria Police would head NFF’s Compliance Committee for the Nigeria 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which the country is bidding to host.

“Hopefully, with the support of all Nigerians, we will deliver a worthy tournament for our women,” Pinnick stated.

The NFF boss added: “The Federal Government of Nigeria has endorsed our FIFA Under-20 Female World Cup project, and we are totally committed to hosting a beautiful showcase for women’s football. The benefits of hosting world class events and tournaments have been thrashed in a lot of conversations.

“From the provision of new facilities to the upgrading of existing facilities; both sporting and otherwise to the massive boost in the local economy, these events also act as windows to the world. Events like these show the side of Nigeria a lot of foreigners do not see in their news cycles.

“So, it is usually a chance to tell our stories to the world, as opposed to the world telling our stories to us. Then the most important aspect of these competitions, in my point of view, is the emergence of new football stars. Tournaments like these are fast-track stages for the new Mercy Akide-Udoh, Desire Oparanozie and Asisat Oshoala to announce themselves to the world. From the start of this process to the end of it, we will be as transparent as possibly,” Pinnick stated.

He further stated that it had been pretty interesting last few weeks for Nigerian football saying: “The Super Eagles moved up 12 spots in the FIFA rankings, our national team players are making moves to be more competitive in club football and our Super Falcons have started the journey to Tokyo 2010 Olympics.”