NIGERIA: Former Super Eagles captain and coach, Sunday Oliseh, has accused the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of withholding a $1 million bonus from FIFA that was meant for the national team after they qualified for the 2002 World Cup.
Oliseh made the revelation during an appearance on the Home Turf podcast, where he stated that there was a clear agreement between the players and the federation to share the money equally.
“We were going to the 2002 World Cup and we had an agreement. $1 million was going to come from FIFA’s money and we agreed to split it 50-50. You take $500k and we take $500k,” he explained.
He noted that the players’ share, amounting to $500,000, was meant to be distributed among the 30 players who took part in the qualification campaign. Each player was expected to receive about $18,000.
Oliseh alleged that the NFF deliberately frustrated the process to prevent the players from getting their portion of the money.
“But the only way the players would have been paid is if Oliseh was there to ensure his colleagues got their share,” he said. “To get that money, NFF eliminated Oliseh and his assistant captain, Finidi George.”
According to him, the federation dissolved the team that secured qualification soon after Nigeria booked its ticket to the tournament and replaced most of the players before the World Cup.
“We qualified for the finals, and they disbanded the team. They made sure we did not get our share. The team that went to that World Cup, 80% of that team didn’t play in the qualifiers. That means they didn’t get the share of that money,” Oliseh added.
Oliseh, who captained Nigeria during part of the qualification campaign, has been a consistent critic of the NFF, often speaking about issues of mismanagement, lack of transparency, and poor treatment of players within Nigerian football.
His latest revelation adds to years of accusations and public debates about accountability and fairness in the management of funds within the country’s football governing body.
GWG
