Ibrahim Musa Gusau, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, has declared openly that the football governing body will target Super Eagles winning the AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire and Super Falcons reclaiming the WAFCON title next year.
According to Gusau, all hands are on deck to ensure that all the National Teams do their best in the next year’s competition.
He made the promise on October 3 while examining the activities of the NFF and the teams in one year of his Board in office, and also articulating expectations for the next year.
“One of our priorities on coming into office was to ensure that the football environment was cleansed of so much toxicity that had threatened the health of the game and made some persons feel unwelcome in the system. We have tried our best to give everyone a sense of belonging with a policy of inclusiveness.
“Off the pitch, we are proud of the work of the Interim Management Committee that we constituted to organize the last NPFL League Season, which was commended by all stakeholders, and we also feel fulfilled about the constitution of the Boards of the NNL, NWFL, and NLO with vibrant, knowledgeable and competent individuals who are capable of taking the leagues to the next level. Elections into the State FAs have also been largely peaceful and successful.”
Gusau said his committee will work diligently with the secretariat and the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to see the Super Eagles off to a great start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying series and to win the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.
“We also want to see the Super Falcons reclaim their African title and return to the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Our expectations include making good progress in our plan for hostel accommodation and some playing pitches for the National Teams, through the FIFA Forward 3.0 program, and also seeing that the U17 and U20 Women’s National Teams achieve their best-ever outings at their different World Cups next year.
We are already working with the new NPFL committee to grow the NPFL into the product that all administrators and stakeholders wish, and also with the boards of the other Leagues to enhance the state of our domestic football. To achieve all these, we need money, so we are also looking to work even harder to grow our revenue base through an aggressive marketing drive.” stated the NFF supremo.
The NFF boss said his crew will not allow any FIFA window for friendly matches to go unutilized.
“As you can see, we have arranged two matches for the Super Eagles in this month’s window, against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique. Mozambique is in southern Africa where three of our opponents in the World Cup qualifiers, namely Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and SoutAfricaso are. Playing Mozambique is a good opportunity for the team to have a sneak preview of what to expect against these three teams.”
