Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh says Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has dealt a major blow to the country’s football progress.
Oliseh warning that the team could also miss out on the 2030 tournament if urgent improvements are not made.
“Not attending back to back World Cup tournaments has damaged our football for eight years; same thing happened to Italy, they don’t look powerful because they haven’t gone thrice and they no longer have that fear factor.
“We can’t afford to miss the next world and with the way we are going if we are not careful we won’t qualify for the next World Cup,” Oliseh said.
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The former midfielder also played a key role in helping Nigeria qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but was left out of the final squad following a reported disagreement with the NFF.
Oliseh represented Nigeria at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups and earned over 50 caps for the Super Eagles.
He won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and was part of the Nigerian squad that secured gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
