Former Super Eagles captain Sylvanus Okpala has shared his thoughts on the devastating financial effects that'll be suffered by Nigeria if the men's football team fail to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Soccernet.ng reports.
The three-time AFCON winners missed out on the 2022 edition of the World Cup, losing the qualifier to their neigbour and rival, and Ghana.
Apparently, Eric Chelle's side still haven't learned their lessons. Six games into the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, Nigeria have won just one game, although all hopes aren't lost, yet.
Sylvanus Okpala had over 40 caps for the Super Eagles and is concerned that the country would lose over $100m if the national team failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, set to hold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The 63-year-old admitted that several business opportunities might lose out on profit if the Super Eagles falter in their qualification journey.
“We lost the right to be at the Qatar 2022 edition out of carelessness because we had no business losing to that Ghanaian team,” the former Enugu Rangers man said in an interview with The Guardian.
“I warned the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that Austin Eguavoen was doing well, but he needed to add just a little thing to the team to qualify for the World Cup.
“I wrote and volunteered to assist Eguavoen, assuring them that we’ll qualify, but they ignored me and we failed to make it,” he said.
The 1980 AFCON winner was a part of Stephen Keshi's coaching crew that led Nigeria to the AFCON 2013 triumph. He wrote a letter to the NFF to assist Eric Chelle in the qualification journey, but his volunteer offer was declined.
“I mentioned that if they felt that I was coming to collect money, they should not pay me any salary.
“I was ready to settle for the camp allowances they paid other staff, but with an agreement that they would pay me a certain amount when we qualified for the World Cup.
“Then we had six games and our destiny was in our hands because all we needed to do was to win those six matches, and that’s it, but today, as it stands, we can still qualify; it’s not impossible, but our destiny is no longer in our hands.”
Okpala faults Eric Chelle for poor CHAN outing
The ex-Super Eagles assistant coach also tore into Eric Chelle after Nigeria were knocked out of the competition at the group stage.
“I have read so many people saying that we failed because the Nigerian Premier Football League’s (NPFL) is of low quality compared to other countries, but that is not true.
“Senegal won this championship last time. Now, are you trying to tell me that the Senegalese league is better than Nigeria’s or more recognised in Africa than the NPFL? The answer is no.
“It’s not about the Nigerian league. It’s about the selection of the players. Did we select the best to represent us in that championship?
“I don’t know because I don’t know the players, but let’s assume that we picked our best for the championship. They had about six weeks or more to train before CHAN. That is where you need to teach them what they need to do.
“The failure has nothing to do with anybody’s league. The English league has been one of the best leagues in Europe for a long time, even before I went to Europe in 1980, but how many times have they won the World Cup?
“They did not even qualify for the 1974, 1978 and 1994 World Cups, but they have one of the best leagues in the world.”
“Even some of the teams, like Morocco and Algeria, are not playing with their best league players, those who are also in their main national teams.
“We should look at how we trained the team and how to ensure that this type of thing does not happen again.
“If no home-based player is in that World Cup squad, then Chelle’s over three months stay with the local lads was a waste. Period,” Okpala concluded.
Nigeria will take on Rwanda and South Africa next month and Chelle's job could be on the line if the Super Eagles drop points in any of the games that will be played in September.
