Super Eagles may face Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, as FIFA demotes Nigeria

• NFF will no longer pay dollars as bonuses, assistant coaches now part-time

The Super Eagles will fall into the same group with one among Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana and Senegal in the Russia 2018 World Cup final qualifiers, which draw will hold in Cairo tomorrow.

This follows the latest decision by world football governing body, FIFA, to alter the seeding for the group draw with Egypt promoted to Pot One, Guinea and Cameroun climbing to Pot Two, while Tunisia, Nigeria and Mali have been demoted to Pot Three.

In Pot One are Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt; Pot Two contains Tunisia, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Cameroun, while Pot Three has Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria, Morocco, Mali and South Africa.

Pot Four comprises Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Gabon and Libya.

The 20 teams going for the final round of the qualifiers will be split into five groups with the winners qualifying for the finals in Russia.

Nigeria was formerly in the second spot, but it now drops with Tunisia to Pot Two, while Mali falls from second to third pot for the draw.

The final qualifiers will kick off in October and ends in November 2017.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Committee has proposed several far-reaching recommendations to the NFF, including the scrapping of dollar payment to the various national teams and match-by-match bonuses as well as placing assistant coaches on part-time basis, reports AfricanFootball.com.

According to the report, among the decisions taken by the technical committee at their meeting on Tuesday in Abuja were:
Players and officials of the various national teams will no longer be paid in U.S. dollars for home matches; the national teams will not be paid bonuses on match-by-match basis, but rather for various stages of a tournament, like qualifying for a major tournament and reaching the various rounds of these competitions; and as part of measures to reduce the heavy financial burden on a cash-strapped NFF, only the head coaches of the various national teams will have full-time contracts, while their assistants will be on part-time basis and expected to tie down jobs with teams in the various leagues

“We believe some of these measures will go a long on reducing the heavy financial pressure on the NFF,” an official said.