NFF meets minister, promises to fortify Super Eagles

• Dare charges federation to hold Rohr to higher standards
• ‘Rohr must scout for players in NPFL’

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has promised to fortify Super Eagles’ technical department to make it more effective. This, the federation, says it will do by engaging experts in different areas to help the coaches in building a formidable team.

The NFF and Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, have been under scrutiny since the senior national team threw away a 4-0 lead to draw 4-4 with Sierra Leone in an African Cup of Nations qualifier in Benin City.

Last week, Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, threatened to overhaul the Super Eagles’ technical department and the country’s football administrative structure to meet the aspirations of Nigerians.

This, perhaps, led to a meeting with the NFF, yesterday, where the minister charged the federation to hold Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr, to higher standards.

Speaking at a meeting, which reviewed the technical report of the Nigeria/Sierra Leone AFCON qualifiers and other matters, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, assured the minister that the federation would not shirk in its responsibilities, promising that changes and adjustments as discussed and suggested by the ministry would be put into motion.

He listed some of the changes to include a Super Eagles’ administrative structure that will include a physical trainer, nutritionist, a psychologist and two match readers or more, injection of three to four home-based players into the Super Eagles picked from the professional league, as well as compelling the technical adviser to watch weekly Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) games to scout for players and also evolve a scientific template to benchmark the performance of the technical adviser and the team.

Earlier, Dare had told the NFF that it must hold Rohr to the higher standards contained his contract, saying, “the recent dismal performance of the Super Eagles in their qualifiers against Sierra Leone has raised a few concerns and brought to fore the need to do a quick critique.”

He added that “the government, while concerned about the dismal performance and non discernible pattern of play and team harmony in the Super Eagles, is looking beyond the outcome of the Nigeria versus Sierra Leone matches and AFCON. We are looking at the present and future administration of football that speaks to the development of the front room and backroom.

“The NFF must tightly hold the technical adviser to the KPIs in his contract. Thus, we cannot wait for those conditions to come to life, before we tighten the screws or demand a higher or better performance, better technical depth, better player mix and team harmony and a functional national team, else Nigeria and football lovers in Nigeria will be the greatest losers. 

“In this area, NFF must take necessary steps and actions beyond Rohr to protect our football fortunes.”

He promised that the sports ministry would work to support the NFF, while also demanding for answers and changes too on behalf of Nigerians.