Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s Super Falcons may boycott their first game of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after learning of plans by the Nigeria Football Federation to refuse payments of their bonuses at the tournament.
The Nigerian FA are insisting that since the players would be individually paid a guaranteed appearance fee in the group stages of the tournament worth $30,000 by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), they will not be paid their match bonuses worth $9,000.
A Nigerian publication reportedly scooped that the players have thus opted to express their grievances by staging a protest and therefore set to abandon their first game of the World Cup against Olympics women’s champions Canada on July 21.
General Secretary of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi allegedly told the team during a meeting that performance-related bonuses for the World Cup have been cancelled by the federation.
According to Sanusi, the decision comes after FIFA announced that players will be directly compensated, with individuals to receive at least $30,000 in the preliminary stage of the competition.
“We are ready to go as far as missing our first game against Canada July 21 because this has to stop.
“We are going ahead to press for our demands,” a senior player reportedly told the Lagos-based newspaper.
“The General Secretary came for the meeting clutching so many papers; he told us that we won’t be paid match bonuses at the World Cup because FIFA had already given each player $30,000 for the group stage. He also said we won’t get 30 per cent from the $1,560,000 FIFA would give the NFF.
“We were shocked, team morale went down immediately because we couldn’t believe what the man was saying.
“One of the oldest players in the team asked him if FIFA would deduct the money ($30,000) they would give us from the $1.5m they gave the federation but he (Sanusi) said no.
“So, she said if its like that, then it shouldn’t affect our match bonuses. After several minutes of argument, Sanusi asked us if we would have preferred the $9,000 match bonus or the $30,000 from FIFA.”
“Since the federation is treating us like this, we have decided to stage a protest before the competition begins, so that the whole world will know what we are passing through. We can’t keep suffering and smiling,” the player warned.
Nigeria are one of few counties to have played on each of the previous editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
Follow Us