Nigeria Withdraws From Soccer Events for Two Years After World Cup Flop
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan withdrew the national soccer team from all international tournaments for two years following its elimination from the World Cup during the first round.
The withdrawal is to ensure that the “embarrassing outcome of the World Cup in South Africa won’t repeat itself,” Ima Niboro, Jonathan’s spokesman, told reporters today in the capital, Abuja.
Nigeria was eliminated from the World Cup on June 22 after failing to win any of the three games it played at the tournament currently under way in South Africa. Its results included a 1-0 defeat by Argentina, a 2-1 loss to Greece and a 2-2 draw with South Korea.
Lars Lagerback was appointed to coach the Nigerian side, known as the Super Eagles, in February. He has been offered a new four-year contract by the Nigerian Football Federation, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported today. Lagerback stepped down as coach of Sweden in October after failing to help that nation qualify for the World Cup finals.
Jonathan acted on the recommendation of a presidential task force set up to facilitate the team’s participation in the World Cup, its chairman, Rotimi Amechi, said at today’s briefing.
“We had all sorts of maladministration,” Amechi said. “We found out that the problem with Nigerian football is structural.”
Nigeria, which is ranked 21 in the world by FIFA, has qualified for four World Cup tournaments, making it past the group stages in the 1994 and 1998 tournaments.
The withdrawal will enable the country to “look inward” to find a solution, he said. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, will be told of the withdrawal formally, said Amechi, adding that the country hasn’t contravened FIFA rules by withdrawing.
“The nation has been punished enough,” Amechi said of Nigeria’s performance at the World Cup. “People have had heart attacks because of Nigerian football.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Okolo in Abuja at pokolo@bloomberg.net
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