Super Eagles now to receive bonuses through banks

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will no longer pay match bonuses of Super Eagles’ players by cash beginning from next month’s World Cup qualifier, reports AfricanFootball.com.

Quoting one of the players, the report says the NFF has directed senior national team stars to open accounts with a particular local bank, where their win bonuses will now be paid.

“We have been asked to open foreign currency accounts with a bank where our bonuses will now be paid,” one of the players said.

This directive comes on the heels of a new financial policy pertaining to foreign currencies adopted by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This arrangement is one of the measures contained in a players’ code of conduct, which NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, announced will soon be implemented.

The Eagles as well as the various national teams have thus far been paid their bonuses in cash.

Last year, the country’s former sports minister, Tammy Danagogo, had to fly with a presidential jet to Brazil with over $3 million to pay the team’s appearance bonuses for the World Cup.

Meanwhile, the NFF has affirmed its decision to ensure that the Super Eagles played at least two friendly games against North African opposition before next year’s African Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt.

The federation yesterday it was working on getting Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria for games before Nigeria meets Egypt in March next year.

NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, said, “I have asked them to begin to shop for a friendly game against Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria in the next available FIFA window.

“That tells you how important the next AFCON qualifiers are to us. We want to make sure that the Eagles are properly prepared and have an idea of how the North Africans play.

“But in any case, coach Sunday Oliseh has already started studying the tapes of the Egyptians and he is preparing the game plans.”

Egypt lead the AFCON qualifying group with six points from two matches, two points more than second-placed Nigeria with the overall group winners guaranteed automatic qualification to Gabon 2017.