The recent spat between the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, and the team captain Vincent Enyeama calls for urgent attention, true but rotation of match venues for the Senior National team, the Super Eagle is becoming a worrisome trend.

Nigeria was voted as the world’s second most entertaining team at the USA ’94 World Cup. Boasting players like Rashidi Yekini,Daniel Amokachi,Finidi George, Emmanuel Amunike, Victor Ikpeba, Asutin “Jay Jay” Okocha, and so on.

These top class national team players got used to playing in a particular stadium and system; especially in home matches in which the National Stadium Lagos was a sure bet as match venue.

The Lagos National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Surulere, Lagos State with a capacity of 55,000. The capacity was then reduced to 45,000 in 1999. It was used mostly for football matches until 2001.

It hosted several international competitions including the 1980 African Cup of Nations final, the 2000 African Cup of Nations final, and FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. It also served as the main stadium for the 1973 All-Africa Games. Tragically the National Stadium degenerated until 2009, when the National Sports Commission made a concerted effort to bring the facility back to world class status.

During this era the National Stadium Lagos was made a fortress, it was one on the most difficult grounds to visit, as there was a perfect connection between the fans and the players. This only attests to the fact that the atmosphere in the stadium is always something of a national pride. The support was electric and a morale booster for the team whenever the Eagles had home fixtures.

Nigeria won the 1980 Nations Cup in this stadium winning all their matches and drawing only one against Ivory Coast in the group stage and went on to only loose on penalty shootout to Cameroun in 2006 final Edition in which they won five games and drew two including the 2-2 draw with Cameroun in the final.

This venue was abandoned at the completion of $360 million Ultra Modern Abuja National Stadium a capacity of 60,491 Opened in 2000 to host the “All African Games.” Now, it is the unofficial home of national teams.

Other stadia used by the Super Eagles in recent years include: ...
Read More http://www.post-nigeria.com/why-switching-match-venues-will-hurt-the-national-teams/

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Recall that the Super Eagles’ crucial 2006 World cup qualifier game which was slated for Calabar was moved to Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano State abruptly, the result was calamitous as Nigeria drew with Angola, in a must win game to topping the group.

This quickly swung the pendulum to the Angolan side as they went on winning their remaining two games, picking their first ever World Cup ticket in the process at the Nigeria’s expense.

It is no longer news that the Super Eagles are spoilt for choice for stadia all around country but if we must make steady progress, we need to make our National Stadium a fortress once more, to bring stability and cohesion between the team and the fans in other to reach our goals as world football beaters.

Endless changing of match venues will only bring instability both in team performances and results as well as psychologically feeling the impact of the 12th man which is of course the fans.

African Stadia like the Cairo International Stadium with 74,100 Capacity, Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium Yaoundé, Cameroon with capacity 38,509, The Marrakesh Stadium, Morocco with capacity of 45,240 amongst others are well known in Africa and globally as hostile lion dens for opponents.

If there is time to bring such an atmosphere back to Nigeria, that time is now. The NFF has to sit down with stakeholders and chart the course for a worthy match venue. Your guess is as good as mine; I am rooting for Abuja Stadium.

This has to be considered in order to achieve the success we long for. Players need to get familiar with a particular environment at home for confidence and a relaxed mind to avoid the kind of complaints made by Vincent Enyeama that subsequently landed him in hot water with the NFF.

Where will the Eagles fare better both in terms of results and performances in your rating; Abuja or Calabar?
Read More http://www.post-nigeria.com/why-switching-match-venues-will-hurt-the-national-teams/

They will not listen.

I beg to disagree, we need to give other states and their residents an opportunity to see their stars, so I believe rotating their matches will also boost the moral of players, since all the players are not from one particular state.

Why will venue affect the performance of footballers,when they play @ their clubs the change venue in the sense the play home and away matches and they don't complain,that is not an excuse jare.my neighbor grandfather is the only man that watch nigeria match against india that ended nigeria 0 vs india 100.

daniska3yaro:
Why will venue affect the performance of footballers,when they play @ their clubs the change venue in the sense the play home and away matches and they don't complain,that is not an excuse jare.my neighbor grandfather is the only man that watch nigeria match against india that ended nigeria 0 vs india 100.

hehehe..... Meaning if they had switched venues perhaps others could have known too... Haha

we missed that chance to qualify for the world cup because of switching of match venue in the dying minutes when we drew against 1-1 Angola in kano, a match that we needed to win badly to top the group , players complain of bad pitches now and then, plus the recent one team captain Vincent Enyeama complain of insecurity of match venue in kaduna where it was reported most fans scaled the fence to make there way into the stadium.

I'm in favor of rotating the matches to ONLY stadia with decent pitches and functioning facilities. The likes of PH, Uyo, Abuja, and Enugu can host national team matches.