Segun Odegbami calls Nigerian football’s crisis the worst in its history

Odegbami demands a reset for Nigerian football

Former Nigeria international Segun Odegbami has described the state of Nigerian football as the “worst time” in the country’s history, pointing to failures across the senior national teams, age-group football, club competitions and infrastructure.

Nigeria’s men failed to qualify for both the 2022 and 2026 Fifa World Cups, while the Super Falcons also missed out on their respective World Cup. Odegbami, who won the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, said the decline represented a “tectonic shift” for one of Africa’s traditional football powers.

“It has never been this bad in our entire history that we didn't qualify for the World Cup,” Odegbami told BBC Sport Africa.

He also criticised the performance of the women’s national team, saying the Super Falcons had failed to win the 2025 Women’s Afcon despite having a strong opportunity to do so. Disappointing results among the junior teams and Nigerian clubs have added to the sense of a wider structural problem, although the country recently reached the quarter-finals of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup.

“All our junior teams are not doing well. Our local league is not bringing in money. Something is definitely wrong,” Odegbami said.

Leadership changes and suspended elections

The crisis has already led to upheaval within the Nigeria Football Federation. NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, general secretary Mohammed Sanusi and several executive committee members resigned last month amid mounting criticism. NFF elections scheduled for 27 September have since been suspended.

Fifa and the Confederation of African Football have joined discussions with the National Sports Commission on a new structure for Nigerian football. Emmanuel Ikpeme has been appointed interim general secretary, while Ademola Olajire is serving as interim deputy general secretary.

Odegbami said the country had not been represented by its “first XI administrators” and argued that the current moment should be used to create a long-term development blueprint. Nigerian sports journalist Fisayo Dairo similarly warned that reform must go beyond replacing officials.

“The reform should be the setting up of a proper framework and structure that our football can thrive on,” Dairo said.

That framework, he argued, should develop national teams, identify talent at grassroots level, involve a broad range of stakeholders and bring in corporate investment to help generate sustainable funding.

Questions over identity, development and facilities

Odegbami believes successive governments have failed to make sport a priority and that administrators have neglected the foundations of the game since the mid-1990s. He said the damage had affected grassroots scouting, player development, academies, clubs and coaching.

“What is the coaching methodology? What is the philosophy of our football in the country? What is our culture, what is our style?” he asked.

The former forward also lamented the deterioration of major stadiums that once formed part of Nigeria’s football heritage, including the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, Kaduna’s Ahmadu Bello Stadium and the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

“I weep when I think of the amount of damage they have done to Nigerian football - the infrastructure that we had in the country,” Odegbami said.

He said the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo is currently Nigeria’s best venue, but “not half as good” as the facilities the country possessed from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Afcon qualifying begins under pressure

The Super Eagles are due to begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign against Madagascar at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo before travelling to Guinea-Bissau on 29 September. Victor Osimhen has been ruled out of Eric Chelle’s squad through injury.

Those fixtures will provide an immediate test for a national programme facing demands for fundamental reform. For Odegbami, success will require more than a change of personnel: Nigeria must rebuild its administration, facilities, talent pipeline and football identity.