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Former NFF Technical Chief Christopher Green blasts Super Eagles’ performance, calls for urgent reforms
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Committee, Barrister Christopher Green, has delivered a blunt and uncompromising verdict on the Nigeria’s senior men’s national team penalty shootout loss to the Leopards of DR Congo, rejecting claims that Nigeria “lost gallantly.”
Speaking after the dramatic 4–3 shootout defeat in Rabat, Green insisted that DR Congo were clearly the better team, especially in the second half and extra time, where he said Nigeria looked “ordinary and ugly.”
“How can anyone say we lost gallantly? Congo was clearly the better side. They punished us throughout the second half and extra time. They made the Super Eagles look ordinary and ugly. They won every ball in these halves. We were riding on luck and assistance without being excellent,” he said.
Green didn’t stop at criticizing the team’s performance on the pitch. He used the opportunity to renew his long-standing concerns over the structural failings within Nigerian football, warning that the nation will continue to decline unless deep-rooted issues are addressed.
“We should be serious and take our football very seriously. What were you doing in the prevalence of corruption, incompetence, lack of capacity and education, indiscipline, ethnicity, nepotism, favouritism and hatred?” he asked.
He questioned the governance of the sport in Nigeria:
“How many people run our football? How is sports in general faring in Nigeria? Everybody must be made to account. Enough of excuses.”
Green’s comments echo increasing frustration among fans, analysts and former officials who believe Nigeria’s football institutions require urgent overhaul to restore the nation’s competitive edge on the international stage.
As debates over technical direction, administrative competence and talent development intensify, the Super Eagles’ latest defeat has once again placed Nigeria’s football governance under the spotlight.
