Revealed: Why NFF may disband Nduka Ugbade’s Nigeria U17 coaching crew

The technical crew of the Nigeria U17 men’s national team led by Nduka Ugbade have reportedly been sacked by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

However, a unnamed member of the federation has explained the reasons behind the termination of their contracts.

According to the spokesperson, the deal signed by the technical crew is dependent on their qualification for the coming FIFA U17 World Cup.

However, Nigeria failed to make it to the U17 World Cup after falling to make the last four of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations following their 2-1 loss to Burkina Faso in the quarterfinal.

He insisted that the coaching team are not on salaries but on special bonuses which are tied to qualifying for tournaments, and failure to qualify for any tournament automatically brings the arrangement to an end.

He further explains why it’s a different case with the U23 Eagles and CHAN teams who also failed to qualify for the Olympics with no consequences for the head coach, Salisu Yusuf.

Yusuf is still in his role as coach of the senior home-based national team of Nigeria despite failing to qualify the two national teams for a major tournament.

Yusuf reportedly has a written contract with the NFF for a particular period while every other coach is on a deal that extends after qualifying for any tournament, he said.

“Their contracts are tied to qualifying for tournaments. That was what we inherited from the Amaju Pinnick-led board.

“So when you make it to any tournament, you get a qualifiers bonus. They are not even on match allowances. It’s the same with the U20 and U23 teams.

“So the moment you fail to make it to a tournament, the contract is terminated and the coaching crew are aware of this.”

Source: OGN