₦airaland Forum

traware:
Lol
We think alike @Emboldened

Great minds

UncleHaba22:
I feel like DR is better than Jamaica

One African team people are sleeping on is Cape Verde
Those people have convinced their Portuguese players to switch allegiance to cape Verde
Good players that plays week in week out in Europe

Ball wise, they'll do well. Might even get a draw against Uruguay and Saudi if they decide to snooze. But I think the opposition is simply too strong.

Well anything can happen sha.

I prefer Jamaica to win but DRC will likely win. If Jamaica win, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I no really send all that Africa Kumbaya boolsheet. If the African reps like, make all of dem jonz comot for group stage. E no really concern me. Make dem even reduce the FIFA slot for Africa. E no concern me too. Nigeria used to qualify for WC when it was just 4-5 African teams going to the WC. If we're serious we can do it again.

SymphonyRad:
Otto Addo don chop sack, chei poor guy.

Why nah 😭😭😭

Germany sef mess up. Why you go allow Ghana score? 🤦🏾

SymphonyRad:
Uzoho is capable

😭😭😭

Goke7:
This is an insult nah! I’ll keep tab on Austria in the World Cup and see how they finish! No be by Cho Cho Cho!

If you see the way I buss laugh when I read the comment. 😂

Kog45:
Oga you're too intelligent

I saw it coming a thousand miles away 🤣🤣

Kog45:
Oga Banky pls abeg you,give us sixteen goals scorers and goals assists names...I want to check something especially regarding our Teamwork.Thank you bro

Hmm. I think I know where this is going. 😂

Odunayaw:
I just de dodge all these scores because e de make me very angry say we no qualify.

Swear down bro

See who wan go World Cup. Blood of Jesus. 😭😭🙏🏾

jihday:
it’s on Ademola Victor TV

Na the only place? Omo as I dey watch my eye dey pain me like this.

elyte89:
No matter what I will always support an African team against any non African opposition

So I am rooting for dr Congo

Good luck to you and DR Congo. As for me, make other African countries go warm eba.

Samueltemi337:
Wetin DR Congo do you?

Can't I be petty without people moralizing why I should/shouldn't be petty? 😤

What did we do to Ghana?

PDPGuy:
FT: New Caledonia 0-1 Jamaica

DR Congo now faces Jamaica for a World Cup spot!

Just watched the highlights.

I really want Jamaica to punish those DRC goons but I'm honestly not impressed with their game against NC. They looked too scrappy to me. The team that played against us in the Unity Cup were more disciplined and had more firepower. I think they've made big switches to the roster since then. These set of reggae boyz are younger, more eager and they have the right ideas but their execution is mostly poor. Plus too many fouls.

I hope this is just me being negative and they can pull it off against DR Congo though.

elyte89:
Where him Dey against dr Congo 🙄😏

You where YOU dey against DR Congo 🤧

Crazy times in African football 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

elyte89:
Abeg wey our verdict na 😢😢😢

Wetin concern me concern verdict? I don comot my mind from FIFA WC since January. I suggest you do the same. 😂

Papi85:
this guy u deserve salary from Victor at the end of every month ❤️❤️🤣🤣🤣

I dey tell you. I don't know who's doing Osimhen's PR work but they need to fire that person and hire BankyGee ASAP. 🤣

Please Seun can we have people's profile pics/avatars appearing next to their usernames? This old format of only names appearing, na only forums wey been dey for 1994 dey use that format. 🤧 Plus it makes the site UI more colorful.

forgiveness:
What are they doing at the helm of affairs of glass house?

Those agbada wearing NFF officials seems not interested in the development of our football.

Seems? 🤣🤣

They are 100% NOT interested.

do4luv14:
You heard me mention wether it's DR, or ES

Just be adding it now abeg, because ever since November last year, na so so Congo everybody dey yarn everywhere. The difference is lost on many people now. So it's important to specify which Congo so that people don't start getting the wrong ideas. Some people fit read that thing now dey celebrate about our WC chances, when it has absolutely nothing to do with us.

do4luv14:
Heard Congo FA president had been sentenced to life imprisonment

For many count charges relating to funds, football and players irregularities

Congo, not DR Congo.

UncleHaba22:
⚖️ 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, President of the Congolese FA 🇨🇬, has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of money laundering, embezzlement, and forgery.

💰 The scandal involved nearly $1.3M in FIFA funds.
👩‍👦 His wife and son were also convicted.

🏛️ Two federation officials received five-year sentences.

🤷🏽‍♂️These funds were originally intended for the development of women’s football and the construction of a training center.

A dramatic fall from power that shakes Congolese football governance.

ℹ️Velile_Mnyandut

For the avoidance of doubt, this post is about the FA of Congo Brazzaville 🇨🇬, not Congo Kinshasha (DR Congo) 🇨🇩. Congo Brazzaville didn't qualify for both AFCON or World Cup.

NasirIbnLaAhad:
For the love of god mate, at this point you need to give it a rest already with your bad belle, overly negative, charged up, needlessly cynical posturing. You're just embarrassing yourself and fighting shadows. Nobody here asked you to be a cheerleader for the NFF or the Super Eagles. Nobody demanded blind loyalty from you or asked you to pretend the NFF is competent. We all know the NFF is incompetent. That's not breaking news, so please quit acting like you just discovered the matrix or something. As a matter of fact, I'll be the first to admit that Nigeria's handling of this entire World Cup playoff situation has been embarrassing at best, shambolic and criminal at worst. The NFF is first and foremost an organisation that react and panics instead of plans. Being proactive is not exactly their thing.

So we agree on that. Fine. But here's where you lose me, and where your argument collapses completely under its own weight: At what point did you become FIFA's chief adjudicator? When exactly did you receive the case files, study the eligibility documentation, consult the relevant statutes, and arrive at your ironclad conclusion that this is a dead case? Because you speak with the breathtaking confidence of someone who KNOWS not suspects, not fears, but KNOWS that Nigeria has no leg to stand on. Your performative certainty here is the very thing that exposes you as actually being the emotional and sentimental one in this discourse. I understand (almost more than most users here, as I've been following the SE since the 90s) the frustration with the constant avalanche of NFF incompetence year after year. You are correct to be angry about missed World Cups, Olympic failures, and youth football becoming a charade, all legitimate grievances, but you've allowed that frustration to curdle into an ugly, reflexive need to see Nigeria fail so that you can feel vindicated. You've dressed cynicism up as intelligence and called it patriotism on your own terms.

I'm not sure what exactly informs your confidence on this case, but the truth is no matter how sure you think you are, nobody can truly know how this case will end. FIFA's eligibility rules are not always straightforward. Precedents exist on both sides. Whether the complaint has merit depends on documentation and jurisdiction, neither of which you have access to.

I personally suspect it may go nowhere. But suspect is the operative word. There is a meaningful difference between "this looks weak" and "this is definitely dead," and you have vaulted over that distinction with reckless abandon. Why? Because being right feels better than being uncertain. Because after years of disappointment, you'd rather pre-empt the loss than risk being caught hoping. Because you're being sentimental about the case! So it's funny watching you cast aspersions on others being emotional when your entire posturing has the unmistakable fingerprints of someone who's bitter to the bone marrow at Nigerian football.

Don't get me wrong. You're free to criticize the NFF. I literally do that for a living. I'm probably the most anti-NFF person on this forum and beyond. So, yes, feel free to criticise the NFF. Criticise their strategy. I'm right there with you. But dude, at least have the intellectual honesty to admit what you don't know instead of packaging your frustration as foresight.

You for no answer that one. For the next 50 years, he'll keep wailing on this matter.

Odunayaw:
Okan Buruku should live up to his name and read the riot act to those boys.

I for craze last night if Gala lost

AndSunGorilla:
If Chelle's contract isn't renewed, I would strongly advocate for bringing Finidi back to finish what he started.

Let him sort out himself with Rivers United first.

FiveFootNinja:
How far the World Cup petition na? Lawyers in the house, wetin dey occur?

Omo how e come be na? Na after DRC play their game against Jamaica we go hear from FIFA? Hahahaha. Nawa.

Goke7:
You better don’t waste your time the nff is being crafty letting you know they can’t pay Chelle so they won’t be extending his contract. This has always been their style and even Chelle knows going by his demands. All these are all departure formalities between nff and Chelle 😂

Your local coaches are happy being paid 30k per month and would gladly let you know whatever Chelle has done they can build on it or even surpass it. We Nigerians too are bloody arrogant and will claim that Chelle did nothing special to warrant his demands as you are already seeing on this thread so case closed abeg!

I be wan follow you drag but I come remember say true true na agents of witchcraft full NFF. To be clear, I'm fully aware that the NFF is more than capable of shooting themselves in the butt (they've been doing it since before I was even born). I was just posting to explain why in a realistic setting, those demands are not excessive.

semid4lyfe:
Fantastic post.

I think some of Eric Chelle's demands were unnecessary and irrelevant.

Pls do a deep dive into the 19 points demand and analyze them one-by-one.

Haba Oga Semi, this one na homework/assignment abi class project wey you carry give me na.

But no wam. Onto say you be our oga patapata for here, I will bite. Plus I have enough time today so why not. I don attach the picture below.

Points 1 & 2: Private SUV with chauffeur/security and a secured house with 24-hour power supply. At first glance, it might sound like Chelle dey overdo. But if you think about it guy, Nigeria is Nigeria. Things dey happen for here, LOL.
I'm not saying it's very likely that he'll experience security challenges, but if you want a coach to be comfortable (especially a foreign coach), I don't think these are unreasonable demands to meet.

Point 3: Furnished office with a projector for analysis. This one na basic working tool. In fact, any serious football federation should already have this without it needing to be in a contract. No issue here.

Point 4: Internet provision. Again, completely standard. Moving on.

Point 5: Flight tickets for wife and two children, business class for Eric and wife, economy for kids. Most multinational employers actually offer this. Can it be negotiated? Of course. But it doesn't sound excessive in the first place.

Point 6: GPS provision. Oya make I confess, when I first see this one, I burst laugh.
Wetin he wan use GPS do wey Google Maps no go fit do? If NFF have diplomatic agents, they can make him realize how unnecessary this request is. This is the only request that I consider questionable so far.

Point 7: Proper equipment supply according to the coach's demand. Again, absolutely valid. How can you train without proper equipment?

Point 8: Right to choose opponents for international friendlies. This one I partially agree with. Normally, a coach should have significant input on who we face in friendlies since it affects preparation. But framing it as an absolute right of choice might be going a bit too far. There are commercial and diplomatic considerations to be had there. NFF should meet him halfway.

Points 9 & 10: Camping programs and youth development initiatives. Music to my ears abegi. This shows he's thinking about our footballing prowess in the long-term

Point 11: Provision to travel, watch, and monitor players abroad. Again, this is standard for any national team coach.

Point 12: Travel to watch the local league and identify players for senior, U23, U20, and U17 teams. Again, what's the problem here? This one should be a given.

Point 13: No interference in team selection and player call-ups. GBAM!! In fact, one crate of Fearless to Eric Chelle for this. The NFF's history of interfering in selection is well documented. It will protect the technical process.

Point 14: NFF to issue working contracts for his staff. Fair and professional. His staff need job security too. We don't want to start hearing stories similar to Randy Waldrum's where he had to go to the 2023 World Cup without his technical assistant. I think he made mention of that in one interview with one African sports journalist like that.

Point 15: Salary paid on or before the 30th of every month. The fact that this needs to be written down tells you everything about the NFF's payment history.

Point 16 & 17: Bonuses, allowances, and including his PA in the structure. Standard contract stuff. I've seen people on Twitter arguing why they need to pay his PA sha. But besides that everything else is standard.

Point 18: $130,000 monthly salary covering himself and technical staff. Okay.. so this is where genuine debate lies because that money no be beans, even though it's not really outlandish by global standards for a national team coach. I feel if NFF are really serious about him, they can meet his demands or at least negotiate to an amount that will satisfy them both.
The bundling of technical staff costs is actually clever sha cos it shows he's packaging everything transparently rather than hiding costs.

Point 19: Monthly meetings with all national team coaches. GBAM AGAIN!!! Fantastic idea if you ask me. Coordination between the senior team and youth teams has always been disjointed.

So boss, the only points questionable or not too solid here are 6, 8 and maybe 18. 6 because which one be GPS again? 8 for reasons already explained above, 18 just because of the cost and how poor we know the NFF is when it comes to generating revenue. And even then it's not a solid excuse. These things can be met. At best, there will be negotiations but come on, it's not as bad as people seem to be painting it.

semid4lyfe:
Oga, it has everything to do with it. It's an indication and realistic assessment of his level because coaches have pay grades too.
Moreover, bigger football nation/pedigree does not equal better pay. For example, Nigeria is a bigger football brand than Angola but check the numbers.

Angola is probably the #2 or #3 top oil producing country in Africa behind Nigeria but has a higher GDP per capita due to its smaller population. This translates to better income per head, and more budgetary provisions for sports and football so it offers better salaries to foreign managers. Thats the reason they can comfortably offer Eric Chelle $100k to take him away from Nigeria.

Now. make I enter Eric Chelle matter.

The NFF gave him two targets when they appointed him as coach.

1. Qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
2. Reach the AFCON 2026 Final.

Did he meet those KPIs. If the answer is NO, then he has no leverage or leg to stand on to be demanding an upgraded contract of $130k with additional perks from the NFF.

Granted, Eric Chelle had the Super Eagles play the most beautiful and dominant football we've seen in the last 10 years (against Algeria) but beautiful football ≠ trophy. Also under Chelle, the Super Eagles had the most listless performance (WCQ playoff against DR Congo) we've seen in years.

But the bottomline is, he has not achieved anything and is not negotiating from a position of strength.

How many countries were queuing to appoint him as coach apart from Nigeria before NFF appointed him? Let's not even forget that he was third choice behind Bruno Labbadia, Tom Saintfient and it was when those two became unavailable that the NFF opted for him.

Look. there are two types of coaches; those who have been sacked and those who will be sacked. No coach is indispensable, certainly not Eric Chelle.

He has not won a major trophy. He is not a top-rated elite coach in Europe. He has not built a long-term tactical system. ......and nothing buttresses this more than the contractual terms he was offered by Olympique Marseille. 4 months contract. Win the FA cup and finish 3rd in league to obtain a 1 year permanent contract. Those are not the terms a club offers a coach they rate. There are even rumours that the Olympique Marseille link was planted and amplified to use as leverage and armtwist the NFF to renegotiate his contract.

Eric Chelle is a good coach and I rate him highly. He also fits the kind of coaching profile I want for the Super Eagles. Attack-minded, low-budget, "tactically dynamic", fast learning curve, ruthless decision making and continuous scouting for players.

Nigeria has a deep coaching market appeal. Little known European coaches that are eager to make a name for themselves and build their CVs/profile, assistant coaches in top European clubs, Nigerian/African diasporans, Accomplished coaches from other african countries etc will queue for the job. The platform of the Nigeria national football team is bigger than any single coach.

$50k is definitely not top-tier remuneration for foreign coaches in Africa but it's also not bottom-tier too.

Eric Chelle should calm down. He shouldn't rock the boat unnecessarily. The next two AFCONs are just round the corner. He needs to build coaching stability. He needs to qualify convincingly for AFCON. He needs to deliver results consistently overtime. He needs to win silverware (AFCON) and the Super Eagles is his best chance to do this. When he has achieved these, he can then renegotiate for an upgraded contract from a position of strength.

This might sound crazy, I don't think it matters that much whether he met those targets. We saw how the boys played in the last AFCON. Even in the playoffs before we faced Congo. There's a clear improvement which everyone has taken notice of. I wasn't even expecting him to meet any of those targets to be honest. But his performance with the team has convinced me enough to hear what he has to say. I'm not saying the NFF has to bend over backwards and break their backs to please Chelle, but they can at least meet him halfway. I read his demands and for the most part, it sounds like someone who really wants to make a statement with the Nigerian national football team from the senior team down to even the U17. Just my thoughts sha.

BankyGee:
Tolu Arokodare has been finding it very hard to impress for Wolves since he joined. He doesn't score and he just missed a penalty in this game against Crystal Palace 😭

I just want bro to find himself, he has every potential to be a menacing striker, I don't just know what's wrong 😭

Bruh this performance is diabolical. 💀