Tag: FIFA

A former member of the defunct Nigeria Football Association Mallam Gara Gombe has condemned stakeholders of Nigeria Football for celebrating FIFA’s clearance of some Nigerian footballers who posses dual nationality.

According to reports made available last week, the NFF disclosed that FIFA cleared six players out of the eight that applied to play for Nigeria, and Mallam Gara Gombe looks critically at it.

“It’s a shame that we are celebrating FIFA’s clearance of Nigerian Players with dual nationality”. “It is self-indicting that we now have to rely on diaspora to have players for our national team”.

“There is nothing wrong with a player with dual citizenship switching allegiance or deciding to play for Nigeria” . 

“However, we are accepting that we do not have a home grown programme to develop players, or we do not have a home grown league that can provide players for us”.

“The danger is that when these players that have switched allegiance start playing in our national team, it will show clearly that you cannot play for Nigeria unless you play in abroad”. “That has always been the case with the Nigeria football teams”.

“Rohr has come to support the continuous destruction of our football culture, philosophy and our football league because we do not have a local league”.

“We only have clubs playing football competition and that is all”. “He has not seen anything  good with any local player in the local league”

“That is why you see that 100% of the players he invites are foreign based”. “He is doing nothing to develop the local players”

In the midst of this call to have our local league developed, we are now hearing of this development”. ‘They are not switching allegiance to Enyimba, Kano Pillars, Kwara United or any of the local teams”.

“There interest is on wearing our national colour and that is where we have a problem” “Yet we are celebrating even when there is nothing to celebrate”

“It is unfortunate, self-indicting we should be ashamed of ourselves” he concluded.