Ex-Footballer Accuses NFF Of Misappropriating $21 Million FIFA Grant

Former player and chairman of the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria Task Force, Harrison Jalla, has asked the Nigeria Football Federation to account for the over $21 million received from both FIFA and CAF between 2014 and 2024.

In a statement on Friday, he described the football house search for a foreign coach, following the resignation of Finidi George as Super Eagles Head Coach, as another inglorious journey.

According to him, FIFA and CAF handed $21.1 million to Nigeria between 2014 and 2024 without anything to show for the money.

Specifically, he revealed that in 2014, NFF got $8.6 million as a World Cup grant, while the body also received $10 million in 2018 for the same purpose.

In 2015, according to him, FIFA gave NFF $2.5 million for the Assisted Programme grant, while in the three years (2023–2026) of the FIFA forward circle, the NFF has gotten $10 million, with another $8 million expected by January of 2026.

“Nigeria is entitled to $8 million in this ongoing cycle, having received over $10 million in the previous two cycles specifically for projects and administration with nothing to show for it. By January 2026, NFF would have received $18 million from 3 cycles of the FIFA Forward programme with no tangible project on the ground,” he stated.

He also added that after the last Africa Cup of Nations, the NFF is entitled to $7 million from CAF, noting that the steady FIFA Annual grants to all its 211 members and CAF grants to all its 54 members were not included.

“Let’s leave out the billions of Naira from corporate sponsorship and appropriation by the National Assembly through the federation account between 2014 and 2024,” he stated, adding that the majority of these funds remain unaccounted for.

He stated these have translated into “huge debts, outstanding hotel bills, and outstanding match bonuses to Super Eagles players, the Falcons, and all strata of the national teams and coaches.

“Without diligently probing how the NFF found itself in this financial mess, the Honourable Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh, convinced President Tinubu to release an intervention fund of 12 billion Naira, which the president graciously approved. Even the 12 billion Naira, as we speak, is alleged to have been misappropriated, with only two in the outstanding match bonuses and allowances paid so far.

“A serious country would send both the Honourable Minister and the NFF Board packing since the minister has demonstrated a lack of capacity to call the NFF—a parastatal under his ministry—to order, take full responsibility, and reposition Nigerian football. The expedition for a foreign coach is another disaster in waiting.”

The search for a foreign coach, he believes, “is yet another inglorious journey rooted in lack of planning. Ten years of long-term planning should be more than sufficient to develop a robust technical department to upgrade Nigerian coaches for national team assignments.

“With the right people in charge of football in Nigeria—a country that was once ranked 5th best in the world Nigeria should by now be the hub and centre for the training and development of African countries, not Europe or South America.

The technical departments of top football federations, he noted, are commercially viable sub-sectors because they generate revenue. A fraction of the grants from FIFA and CAF from 2014–2024 is more than sufficient to establish a robust and commercially viable technical department that would have upgraded a good number of indigenous coaches for our national teams. It’s a big shame for a country like Nigeria to be talking about hiring a foreign coach in 2024.