President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick caused a stir on Tuesday, December 20 when he said that one Super Eagles game cost N200m.
“For AWCON 2016, only N18m was approved, one Super Eagles match cost us about N200 Million!,” the NFF president said in an interview with AIT Focus.
This comment comes after the public criticism the NFF faced during the Super Falcons unpaid salary drama.
Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Solomon Dalung has ordered an audit of the NFF amidst the drama.
Pinnick’s latest revelation on the Super Eagles, however, raises lots of question.
We take a look at what the NFF could spend money on for a Super Eagles Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) or FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Logistics
It
costs lots of money for the logistics of the Super Eagles players and
officials for a home and an away qualifiers. Players flight tickets, to
and fro the country, the chartered flight to the match venue etc.
Feeding and Accommodation
play
The
feeding and accommodation of the Super Eagles players and officials in
camp and on matchdays are also very important. The Super Eagles players
stay in comfortable hotels while in training and one or two days before
and after the games.
Allowances
The
Super Eagles players and officials are also paid bonuses and allowances
for any game play, be it a friendly game or an actual qualifier.
monitored this conversation on Twitter where Calvin Emeka, a football analyst for Super Sports revealed
that the state handles accommodation, feeding, transport and logistics
while do the NFF do not even pay for the stadium used.
It
is unclear who pays for the Super Eagles feeding and allowances for away
games. It is also unclear how much CAF and FIFA pay federations for
AFCON and World Cup qualifiers.
This conversation raises so many questions and we need the NFF to be transparent and answer all of them.
