Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peterside Idah has lent his voice to the growing calls for a complete overhaul of the current governing body of Nigerian football, Footynaija.com reports.
The Nigerian Football Federation find themselves under immense scrutiny following the Super Eagles’ dismal performance at the CAF 2026 World Cup qualifiers that has been characterized by managerial instability and unfavourable results.
As things currently stand, the Super Eagles will most likely miss out on a place at the upcoming Mundial, resulting in consecutive absences after equally missing out on the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar.
For Idah, this string of failures are a result of Nigeria’s poor football administration. The 51-year-old went further to suggest that involving former professionals, who understand the sporting as well as administrative side of the game is the only way to turn things around.
“I don’t want to get into the Nigerian case. I’ve seen this rottenness for a very long time,” he told Brila. “We’ve complained deeply. Sometimes they think that because we played football, we don’t qualify to run football, and it’s a big shame.”
“I went to school, and I have enough education, and I played the game. You need to have the ability to manage things—business and whatever it is—to be able to run an organisation. But sometimes they don’t honour us. They don’t respect us. Once you play football, they look at you as a dropout. I’m not.”
Idah’s comments come in the wake of another former Super Eagles star, Sunday Oliseh, calling for a sweeping overhaul of the leadership of Nigeria’s football governing body if the African giants fail to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
