The history of world football can never be complete without Nigeria, due to their great feats in the world of football. The African giant has achieved what so many countries (developed and underdeveloped) have not been able to achieve. Therefore, FIFA needs to support it in the steps it has taken to reform the game of football and make its national teams a force to be reckoned with again.
Recent performances by Nigerian teams in both continental and world football have been appalling, considering the nation’s qualification and previous achievements in both men’s and women’s football. For example, the Nigerian Golden Eaglets were the first team in the world to win the U-16 World Cup (China ’85); they have now won a total of three editions and have also played in three other finals.
The U-20 team has also played in the final in 2 editions (Saudi ’89 and Holland 2005), and staged the biggest comeback in U-20 history, where they came back from 4-0 to beat the USSR on penalty kicks. The U-23 team became the first African team to win a gold medal in an Olympic Games (Atlanta ’96), after beating Brazil and Argentina in the semifinals and final respectively.
The Super Eagles participated in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in USA ’94 and were voted the Most Entertaining Team, after regaling the world with great soccer art. They were even rated as the fifth best team in the world (FIFA ranking). So far, the Super Eagles have won 2 African Cup of Nations titles (1980 and 1994), 4 silver medals (1984, 1988, 1990 and 2000) and 7 bronze medals.
The women’s national team (The Falcons) have won 5 consecutive African Women’s Championship titles (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006); she has participated in every women’s world cup to date, and has also participated in every women’s Olympic Games football competition. They even made it to the quarterfinals of the US ’99 women’s world cup, where they were eventually bested by the Samba girls from Brazil. The women’s under-20 has also been in all the women’s under-20 world cups.
The country has also hosted 2 nations cup tournaments (1980 and 2000); it hosted the Under-20 world championship (1999) and the Under-17 world championship (2009), and did remarkably well as a host.
However, the fortunes of the Nigerian national teams have recently declined; in 2008, the Super Eagles had their worst performance in the Nations Cup in Ghana, where they failed to win silver for the first time since 1984. The Under-20 team failed to get past the second round in Egypt (2009); while the Under-17s failed to qualify for the African championship, having been eliminated by the little-known Republic of Benin in the qualifiers (they only participated in the world cup as host in 2009).
Our women’s team (The Falcons) lost the last edition of the African women’s championship against Equatorial Guinea; and they even failed to reach the final.
At South Africa 2010, the Super Eagles failed to advance beyond the group stage, losing to Greece and Argentina, making Greece win a world cup match for the first time. The team’s performance was less than impressive and has actually drawn condemnation from soccer fans around the world.
Therefore, the world soccer governing body should support the effort being made by the Nigerian government to reform its soccer, instead of declaring war on the nation. We understand that tournaments would not be exciting without the best team in Africa; we must at the same time remember that it would be ridiculous if we participate and lose outrageously. So it makes sense for the country to go back to the draw board for some time to try and find a way to improve the fortunes of their teams.
When they’ve been completely reorganized, they’ll come out more entertaining, more results-oriented, and better focused. They would add colors to tournaments organized by FIFA and help attract more fans, which would translate into better profits for FIFA. Africa would be happy to see Nigeria bounce back and win more trophies for themselves.