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Issues of missed payments have arisen again with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after the Nigeria women’s national team boycotted training ahead of the Super Falcons’ third place game against Zambia. Owed $3,000 for each of their two group stage victories and $5,000 for their quarterfinal win over Cameroon, the members of the Nigerian squad have only received $1,000 each at this point and refused to leave their hotel in Casablanca for training.
BBC Sport Africa’s Oluwashina Okeleji reports that NFF president Amaju Pinnick and other officials have given reassurances to the players that the payments will arrive but are awaiting funds from the Nigerian government’s Sports Ministry, which funds the NFF. While officials stated that the players understand that payment will arrive, there have been multiple occasions in the past when the Super Falcons were not paid in a timely fashion at major international tournaments including the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France as well as the 2004 and 2016 editions of the WAFCON.
