Former Super Falcons and San Diego Spirit forward Mercy Akide has weighed in on the Super Eagles‘ failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Soccernet.ng reports.
Eric Chelle became Nigeria's head coach in January 2025, but before his appointment, the three-time AFCON champions had not won any of their four World Cup qualifying matches.
The Franco-Malian tactician steered the Super Eagles forward, helping them seal a place in the play-offs.
Nigeria secured a 4-1 win against Gabon in the semi-final, but a loss to DR Congo confirmed that the Super Eagles will miss consecutive World Cup tournaments.
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Mercy Akide weighs in on Super Eagles' World Cup failure
Akide was the winner of the inaugural CAF Women's Player of the Year Award in 2022. She experienced immense success with the Super Falcons, winning the WAFCON tournament three times.
Quizzed about the failure of the Nigerian men's football team to qualify for the World Cup, the 50-year-old revealed that the constant change of coaches brought some instability to the team.
“When you have too many cooks in one pot, the soup tends to have too much salt or too much pepper,” Mercy Akide said on the ATHLST podcast.
“Before Eric [Chelle] took over the team, we had four coaches who tried to qualify Nigeria for the World Cup. You don't do that to a team.
“Yes, the boys are professional in their clubs, but they're not all together in the Nigerian team. There's no team chemistry; they all came with individual play.
“So, when you call them a week or two before the tournament, it's not enough. The boys look happy because they want to play for their country, but no one really knows what happened behind closed doors.
“Firing a coach after two games isn't healthy for the players. Some players are wired differently to excel in different tactical atmospheres, but it's not for everybody.
“Eric tried to patch the team, but it was too late. We needed the World Cup, but it didn't happen. Give this team another four years, and watch what will happen,” the Super Falcons legend concluded.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's AFCON 2025 Group C counterparts, Tunisia, are looking to poach Eric Chelle ahead of their World Cup campaign.
