SUPER FALCON PLAYERS WON'T GET PAID BY FIFA TILL AFTER ONGOING 2023 WOMEN'S WORLD CUP — NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION

This was made known by the Director of Communications, NFF, Ademola Olajire during an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Wednesday morning. 

The Nigeria Football Federation has said that players of the women’s football team, Super Falcons will not be paid until the end of the ongoing 2023 Women's World Cup tournament jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia. 

This was made known by the Director of Communications, NFF, Ademola Olajire during an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Wednesday morning. 

He stated that viral reports that FIFA had paid NFF the World Cup prize were untrue. He told SaharaReporters that the procedure is that the money is paid after the final of the tournament. 

“We (NFF) have not received any money from FIFA for this ongoing World Cup. It will be after the final. This is because as things stand, nobody can determine the rank of the team in the tournament. It is after the final that FIFA will be able to determine which team comes first, second, and third place,” he said. 

Meanwhile, SaharaReproters earlier reported that the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) on Tuesday declared its readiness to assist Super Falcons to recover their unpaid entitlements from the country’s football federation.

This was made known in a statement released by the organisation barely 24 hours after the team crashed out of the ongoing world cup tournament.

According to the organisation, the payment of the entitlements by the NFF to female footballers is long overdue.

The group also praised Super Falcons players for putting the issues surrounding the payment of their owed bonuses behind them and displaying a top-notch performance at the global tournament.

The statement reads: “Following the Nigeria women's football team's elimination from the FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFPRO can confirm it is assisting players in a disagreement with the Nigeria Football Federation concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some of which date back to 2021.

“During the World Cup, the players expressed the desire to remain focused on their performance without making public statements or facing other distractions.

“However, the Super Falcons believe that it is now time for the Nigeria Football Federation to honour their commitments and pay the outstanding amounts.

“The team is extremely frustrated that they have had to pursue the Nigeria Football Federation for these payments before and during the tournament and may have to continue doing so afterwards. It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.

“FIFPRO will continue to work with the players to ensure their contractual rights are honoured and the outstanding payments are settled.”

In July 2022, SaharaReproters reported how Super Falcon players reportedly boycotted training due to unpaid bonuses ahead of their #WAFCON2022 third-place match against the Copper Queens of Zambia in Morocco.

SaharaReporters gathered that “the female national team players failed to show up for their training to protest the non-payment of some of their entitlements.”

Some of the players also confirmed that they had not received any match bonuses since the African Women’s Cup of Nations qualification matches.

“We’ve not been paid for the last WAFCON qualifiers.” One of the players told sports journalist, Ojora Babatunde.

Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu has also praised the women's football team for their performance at the ongoing Women’s World Cup even though they failed to progress to the quarter-final stage of the tournament.

On Monday, Super Falcons were beaten by their English counterparts in a dramatic encounter which was decided by a penalty shootout. 

England won the Round 16 match despite being down to 10 players due to a punishing assault.

Despite Georgia Stanway's penalty miss, Nigeria missed their next two, and the European champions earned their place in the final eight when Chloe Kelly slammed in the winning kick.