Nigeria football infrastructure has suffered ‘irreparable damage’ – Segun Odegbami

Nigeria football legend Segun Odegbami says the country has suffered “irreparable damage” to its football infrastructure because of years of neglect and inadequate investment.

Nigeria have failed to qualify for the past two men’s Fifa World Cups, while concerns over the condition of stadiums and wider investment in the game have become increasingly prominent.

Odegbami, who helped Nigeria win their first Africa Cup of Nations title in 1980, believes the country has fallen behind other African nations that have continued to develop facilities and attract major international sporting events.

Senegal will host the Youth Olympic Games next month, while South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will stage next year’s men’s Cricket World Cup.

Kenya is scheduled to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, with Morocco set to co-host the 2030 Fifa World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal.

Odegbami said several stadiums that once represented the strength and ambition of Nigerian football have been allowed to deteriorate.

Among those he highlighted were the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, which hosted matches at the 1980 and 2000 Afcons, the Liberty Stadium – now known as Obafemi Awolowo Stadium – in Ibadan, Kaduna’s Ahmadu Bello Stadium and the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

“I weep when I think of the amount of damage they have done to Nigerian football – the infrastructure that we had in the country, some of the historic monuments that were facilities for football in this country,” Odegbami said.

“Whether it was wilful, whether it was ignorance, they did irreparable damage to what was Nigeria’s heritage.

“Uyo is the best we have in Nigeria, but it is not half as good as what we had from the 1960s to the 90s.”

Nigeria’s Super Eagles will begin their 2027 Afcon qualifying campaign against Madagascar at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Friday at 16:00 GMT.

Eric Chelle’s side will then travel to Guinea-Bissau for their second Group C qualifier on 29 September.

However, Nigeria will be without Victor Osimhen after the former African Footballer of the Year was ruled out of the squad through injury.