Victor Ezeji: Nigerian Clubs Must Improve to Compete in Africa

Former Nigerian international, Victor Ezeji has called for urgent reforms to improve the performance of Nigerian clubs in continental competitions.

Speaking in a chat with Brila.net, Ezeji expressed concern that despite Nigeria having four slots in CAF inter-club competitions every season, most representatives struggle to progress beyond the preliminary rounds.

According to him, the recurring poor outings of Nigerian teams on the continent point to deeper structural issues within the domestic league.

“We aren’t really ready for this continent thing we have always had false hopes by the time they play first round, second round only one will be left and we can keep going on and on like that.

“Everyone wants to be in the content but no one is making an impact on the continent.

“It just shows you the quality of our league because with how badly we played it means something is wrong. In a situation when we sack twenty we recruit twenty then we start crying, this thing has been happening for years.

“The last time Nigerian club lifted the CAF Champions League was 2004, it makes it twenty two years ever since. It tells you something is fundamentally wrong and till we solve the problem it won’t work.”

“We need to look at what is actually wrong and fix it, it’s an embarrassing thing for Nigerian football.”

Ezeji also criticized the frequent overhaul of squads by clubs at the start of new seasons.

He noted that replacing a large number of players at once without allowing time for cohesion often leads to underperformance.

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Nigeria had four clubs representing the country in continental competitions this season.

However, only Rivers United advanced to the group stage of the CAF Champions League.

Rivers United endured a difficult campaign, losing five matches and drawing one without recording a single victory.

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