Fixing Nigerian Football: Complete Overhaul Long Overdue? – By Kayode Adebiyi

By Kayode Adebiyi
Football acts as a universal language in Nigeria, serving as the ultimate bond for a diverse population of more than 250 million people.
From the bustling street corners of Lagos, Kano, Aba and Port Harcourt to the quiet villages of the Niger-Delta, a Super Eagles victory could pause political disagreements and bridge deep ethnic divides.
Football enthusiasts say that, unfortunately, the once-mighty engine of national pride has severely fractured.
According to football experts like Segun Odegbami, Nigerian football is engulfed in governance chaos, administrative scandals, structural decay, and repeated on-field failures.
The 1980 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner aligned with the general verdict by many stakeholders that Nigerian football had arrived at a critical turning point.
Analysts say the recent resignation of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Ibrahim Gusau, its General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, and several executive committee members, marked a tipping point.
Tolu Adeoye, a sports blogger, said the misfortune among Nigeria’s national football teams could be the final nail in the coffin if something was not done.
“The immediate catalyst for the current administrative shakeup was a string of high-profile sports setbacks that shattered the expectations of a football-crazed country.
“The failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup sent shockwaves across the nation.
“This setback was soon compounded by the Super Falcons’ early quarter-final exit at the WAFCON and their subsequent failure to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Remember that the Olympic Eagles (the Dream Team) also missed out on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris,” he said.
He said FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) were calling for sweeping reforms.
Also, there is a government mandate for an overhaul, thereby adding to the general message from every corner of the sport’s ecosystem that the time for superficial fixes is over.
However, recent scrutiny intensified over the handling of a N17 billion Federal Government intervention fund released in 2024, and internal fact-finding reports alleged that officials influenced national team selections for financial gain.
The mounting public backlash prompted President Bola Tinubu to issue a directive calling for comprehensive reform of the nation’s football administration.
Faced with legislative summons, public anger, and impending FIFA scrutiny, the NFF executive leadership tendered their resignations.
Highlighting the gravity of the decay, Odegbami delivered a stinging indictment of the status quo in a recent interview.
“Our girls (the Super Falcons), who were African champions, failed to win a competition that was just there for their taking. All our junior teams are not doing well.
“Our local league is not bringing in money. Something is definitely wrong.
“It has never been this bad in our entire history that we didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Nigerian football is not working… This is the worst time in our history,” he said.
Odegbami’s sentiment echoes across the nation: the collapse was not an accident, but the logical outcome of a system built on short-term survival rather than sustainable structure.
For Adeoye, the rot in terms of the national teams starts from the foundation, which he termed youth ranks and grassroots decay.
“A major challenge bedevilling age-grade football is the persistent issue of age fabrication and flawed scouting.
“The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) bone-density testing was introduced by FIFA to eliminate over-aged players in U-17 competitions.
“What happened next? Nigerian youth teams are frequently thrown into disarray just weeks before major tournaments when a large number of recruited squads fail the medical scans,’’ he said.
He said such development forces coaches to assemble hasty, uncohesive replacement squads, leading to early exits in regional WAFU-B and continental qualifiers.
Paul Okoku, a former Nigerian international and respected sports analyst, underscored these institutional failures when reviewing the administrative record.
He said that, because of over-aged selections in junior ranks and the absence of a centralised tracking mechanism, the transition rate from youth teams to the senior Super Eagles had plummeted.
Stakeholders say a healthy national team is typically a reflection of a robust domestic league, but the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) continues to struggle with structural vulnerabilities.
Substandard playing surfaces, inadequate security at match venues, inconsistent refereeing, and poor broadcast monetisation also continue to undermine the commercial potential of the local game.
Prominent FIFA-badged referee, Ferdinand Udoh, recently said issues with integrity, favouritism, corruption, and inadequate capacity development were impediments hindering Nigeria’s progress in terms of refereeing.
“We are not deliberate about refereeing in this country.
“Also, the people handling the refereeing aspect of the game at the NFF are lost as to what should be done, how it should be done, and when it should be done,” he said.
NPFL analyst, Fisayo Dairo, stressed that replacing individuals in leadership will achieve little if the systemic framework remains unchanged.
“The reform should not just be a change in leadership.
“The reform should be the setting up of a proper framework and structure that our football can thrive on.
“What is the coaching methodology? What is the philosophy of our football in the country? What is our culture, what is our style?” Dairo asked in a conversation with BBC Sport Africa.
Speaking on the need to dismantle structural barriers, sports administrator Harrison Jalla highlighted that the ongoing intervention by FIFA and CAF offers a rare opportunity to rewrite the rules.
“The FIFA delegation was well informed. They were able to listen to all shades of opinion and all shades of stakeholders in Nigerian football.
“When you fail, something must give… Everything is coming together like a jigsaw puzzle to produce a blueprint that covers every aspect of our football development,” he said.
A sports analyst, Chidi Nnamdi, emphasised that football administration must be treated as a serious business rather than a political patronage scheme:
“Football is a multi-billion-dollar industry globally, but in Nigeria, it is treated like a government welfare department.
“We need corporate governance, transparent financial auditing, and private sector investment.
“If we do not amend the NFF statutes to bring in private investors, ex-players, and management experts, we will be back in this same crisis four years from now,” he said.
He said the current intervention by FIFA, CAF, and the Federal Government provided Nigeria with an unprecedented opportunity to execute a comprehensive, uncompromised overhaul.
Enthusiasts say the crisis currently gripping Nigerian football is unquestionably severe, but it also carries the seed of renewal.
Nigeria possesses a massive pool of athletic talent, a rich football history, and the most passionate fan base in Africa.
By committing to deep structural reforms, institutional transparency, and sustained grassroots development, the country can move past this difficult period and spark a vibrant new era for the sport.
The clear consensus among football stakeholders is that the overhaul of Nigerian football must begin immediately.